On the 5th, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered a government work report at the opening ceremony of the National People’s Congress, in which the word “stability” appeared 64 times out of 16,000 words, highlighting the authorities’ concern about political and economic “instability. The word “stability” appears 64 times, highlighting the authorities’ concern about political and economic “instability.
According to official media reports, Li Keqiang explicitly stated in the key work section that he would “adhere to the general keynote of seeking progress in a stable manner” and reiterated the need to achieve “six stability” and “six protection”.
In the section on foreign policy, Li also strived for “stability”, except on the issue of Hong Kong, where he emphasized “resolutely preventing and curbing interference by external forces in the affairs of Hong Kong and Macau”, while the rest of his speech was more moderate.
Taiwan‘s Central News Agency reported that the other side of the CCP’s emphasis on “stability” reflects the authorities’ concern about many “unstable” factors.
The report mentions that Li Keqiang frequently drank water during the report, and stopped to receive applause less often than in previous years, and there were many times when he did not wait for the applause to fall, and then hurriedly “grabbed the camera” to read the script, appearing more embarrassed.
In recent years, the structural problems of the Chinese Communist Party‘s economy have accumulated, coupled with internal and external factors such as trade wars, plagues and floods, resulting in a continuous downward spiral of China’s economy and numerous crises. At a meeting of the Communist Party’s Politburo on January 28, Xi Jinping stressed the need to prepare for various “black swans” and “gray rhinoceros” events.
Under such circumstances, the authorities are under considerable pressure to achieve the so-called “progress in stability”, in line with the main theme of the CPC’s “centennial party celebration”.
Li Keqiang also mentioned in his report that this year’s GDP growth target of more than 6 percent was set. However, some experts believe that this may be an unrealistic “political target”.
On the eve of the Communist Party’s “two sessions,” Feng Chongyi, an associate professor of Chinese studies at the University of Technology Sydney, told Voice of America that China’s economy has been in bad shape, with serious debt problems, declining production, widespread business closures, and high unemployment. This is a wise choice.
But Feng Chongyi said the actual situation is that Chinese provincial and municipal officials have generally set their GDP growth targets at more than 6 percent this year, and Hubei and Hainan have even set them at 10 percent, which is “too much” in order to get promoted. The authorities demand GDP growth, but the entire fiscal revenue is stretched, the actual gap is very large.
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