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Download this week’s newsletter as a PDF here: CPW No. 85
Dear friends and colleagues,
Happy lianghui! I am at the airport on the way to Beijing, where I will be for the next week. I will then be in Wuhan the week following and Hong Kong and Singapore the week after that. If there are readers in any of those cities that would like to meet, please get in touch.
I’ve been running around in preparation for the trip, so have yet to look at the various work reports delivered yesterday, but impressions from the little bit that I have picked up are pretty underwhelming. The most basic contradiction at the heart of China’s economic policymaking remains the continuing use of growth targets. Given the current accommodative monetary and fiscal policy stance, I think the 6.5% target for this year is possible (just barely), but trying to maintain that rate of growth over the next five years – as the five-year plan mandates – is impossible.
The government’s stability bias will mean that structural reforms will proceed cautiously and haltingly, and that many of the underlying structural problems in the economy will remain unaddressed. This means the continued misallocation of capital in the economy and further buildup of (bad) debt. The day of reckoning is still probably years away, but it is disappointing to see the top leadership failing to adequately address the issue.
Your comments and feedback are always welcome. Old issues are always available at www.chinapoliticsweekly.com. Sign up or unsubscribe by sending an email to info@chinapoliticsweekly.com.
| PBSC Week in Review | ||
| Xi Jinping
Party General |
Mar 5 | Xi attended the opening meeting of the NPC annual full session. |
| Secretary; PRC President; | Xi met with the Shanghai delegation.
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| Chairman of Central Military Commission | Mar 4 | Xi joined a panel discussion of political advisors from the China Democratic National Construction Association and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.
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| Mar 3 | Xi attended the opening meeting of the CPPCC annual session.
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| Feb 29 | Xi met with Communist Party of Vietnam international department chief Hoang Binh Quan, the special envoy of Vietnam’s communist party chief Nguyen Phu Trong.
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| Xi sent a congratulatory message to the opening ceremony of the “China-U.S. Travel Year”.
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| Li Keqiang
Premier |
Mar 5 | Li delivered the government work report during the opening meeting of the NPC full session.
Full text of the report in English (From the New York Times).
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| Mar 4 | Li met with CPPCC delegates from economic and agricultural circles.
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| Mar 3 | Li attended the opening meeting of the CPPCC annual session.
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| Mar 1 | Li signed a decree amending 66 regulations to simplify administrative procedures.
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| Feb 29 | Li met with United States Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.
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| Zhang Dejiang
Chair of the |
Mar 5 | Zhang chaired the opening meeting of the NPC annual full session.
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| National People’s Congress | Zhang joined a group deliberation of delegates form Zhejiang Province.
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| Mar 4 | Zhang chaired a preparatory meeting for the NPC annual session.
At the meeting a presidium for the session was elected.
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| Zhang chaired the first presidium meeting of the NPC annual session.
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| Zhang held a meeting with heads of committees of the NPC.
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| Zhang met with CPPCC delegates from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
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| Mar 3 | Zhang attended meetings with delegations arriving for the NPC annual full session. | |
| Zhang attended the opening meeting of the CPPCC annual session.
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| Yu Zhengsheng
Chair of the |
Mar 5 | Yu attended the opening meeting of the NPC annual full session.
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| Chinese People’s Political | Yu joined a group deliberation of deputies from Hubei Province. | |
| Consultative Conference | Mar 4 | Yu met with CPPCC delegates from medical and healthcare circles.
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| Yu joined a panel discussion of political advisors from the China Democratic National Construction Association and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.
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| Mar 3 | Yu delivered the CPPCC Standing Committee work report at the CPPCC annual session.
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| Feb 29 | Yu chaired the closing meeting of the bimonthly CPPCC National Committee Standing Committee session.
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| Liu Yunshan
Head of Party |
Mar 5 | Liu attended the opening meeting of the NPC annual full session.
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| Secretariat; Head of Propaganda | Liu joined a group deliberation of delegates from Inner Mongolia.
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| Mar 4 | Liu met with CPPCC delegates from the China Democratic League and Agricultural Workers Party.
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| Mar 3 | Liu attended the opening meeting of the CPPCC annual session.
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| Mar 1 | Liu spoke at the Central Party School spring semester opening ceremony.
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| Wang Qishan
Secretary of the |
Mar 5 | Wang attended the opening meeting of the NPC annual full session.
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| Central Commission for | Mar 4 | Wang met with CPPCC delegates from the Chinese Communist Party.
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| Discipline Inspection | Mar 3 | Wang attended the opening meeting of the CPPCC annual session. |
| Zhang Gaoli
Executive Vice |
Mar 5 | Zhang attended the opening meeting of the NPC annual full session. |
| Premier | Mar 4 | Zhang met with CPPCC delegates from educational circles.
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| Mar 3 | Zhang attended the opening meeting of the CPPCC annual session.
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| About CPW
China Politics Weekly aims to keep business leaders, investors, diplomats, scholars and other China hands up to date on important trends in China. It is produced by Trey McArver, a London-based consultant providing advice and intelligence to firms and investors engaged in China and the region. You can find out more about Trey and CPW in this interview.
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