In front of nearly 3,000 deputies of the National People’s Congress (ANP) gathered from Sunday March 5 for ten days at the People’s Palace in Beijing, the outgoing Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, called in a martial tone the army to « intensifier » his training and “prepare for battle”. Faced with the United States, which is doing everything to dissuade China from invading Taiwan militarily, Beijing has announced a new sharp increase in its defense budget, of the order of 7.2% (compared to 7.1% last year ). While distrust is growing among its Asian neighbors, in the United States and even now within NATO, China will spend some 225 billion dollars on its defense – the second largest military budget in the world behind that of the United States ( which remains about three times higher).
During this opening session, the Prime Minister also unveiled a growth objective of« environ 5 % » for 2023 (against 3% in 2022), one of the lowest in decades, ensuring however that “China’s economy is enjoying a solid recovery.” “China’s economic development has come up against multiple unexpected factors both at home and abroad, such as the epidemic”, justified Li Keqiang. But “Under the determined leadership of the Party Central Committee, we have effectively coordinated epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. »
The end of the collective management of the country
“China is currently facing many headwinds both domestically and internationally.analyzes Alyssa Chen, China specialist at the Japan Times de Tokyo, precisely when the leader Xi Jinping will be offered an unprecedented third presidential term, a few months after having already obtained a third as general secretary of the Communist Party of China (during the 20e Party congress last October, Editor’s note). »
Despite the “zero Covid” episode which tarnished his image, Xi Jinping maintains a position ” strong enough “ at the top of the Party, which makes him practically untouchable, observes Alfred Muluan Wu, professor at the National University of Singapore. The demonstrations of last November, far from shaking it, “gave him the way out he was looking for”said Christopher Johnson, CEO of the consulting firm China Strategies Group. “If the abandonment of the zero Covid policy went well, he could say that he had listened to the people. If it went wrong, he could blame the protesters and ‘hostile foreign forces’, which his security chief has publicly suggested were supporting them.he writes in the magazine Foreign Affairs.
For Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, Xi Jinping “acted decisively when, during the protests, there were calls for him and the CCP to leave. He smothered them and removed the pattern” anger. “He can therefore present himself as a leader, rather than someone who is pushed to react. » and its power “will continue to consolidate for five years”assures Alyssa Chen, who sees in this event the end of the collective management of the country launched in the 1980s by Deng Xiaoping.