The Chinese Communist Party has set the agenda for 2025 at its "Two Sessions" meeting in Beijing. Neil Thomas, a fellow at Asia Society's Policy Institute, tells TaiwanPlus that Chinese leader Xi Jinping will be closely watching his colleagues' performance in implementing his agenda — crucial to deciding who will be his successor.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Chinese Premier Li Jiang presented the government work report at the two sessions meeting.
00:06What have we learned from the report?
00:09I think we've learned that there's been little change to Xi Jinping's power at the centre
00:17of the party in terms of his ability to control the levers of authoritarian power at the very
00:25top.
00:26We have seen a turn towards a somewhat more pro-growth economic policy, as well as some
00:35moves to encourage consumption and support the private sector.
00:41I think this indicates a degree of pragmatism within Xi's broader political ideology.
00:51He has these long-term goals to achieve China's national rejuvenation, to make China a leading
00:59power, to make it at the forefront of technological innovation and economic might.
01:06But at the same time, to achieve these long-term goals, you need to be maintaining economic
01:12growth in the near term.
01:15Are there any signs coming out of the two sessions meeting that the Chinese leader Xi
01:19Jinping could make way for a successor in the near future?
01:23Xi Jinping will be looking at his colleagues and looking at how competent they are at achieving
01:30the goals he sets.
01:31And that does include these goals for the economy, for technology, that are the focus
01:39of two sessions discussions.
01:41So it's certainly an occasion that has a big profile.
01:46And so the ability of people like Li Jiang to do a good job and to show that they are
01:54faithful and worthy implementers of Xi's vision could certainly help them in these longer-term
02:02considerations that Xi might have about what comes next.
02:08What signal is Beijing sending to Washington regarding the broader US-China relations as
02:13President Donald Trump's tariffs go into effect?
02:17We've learned that China is keeping some of its fiscal firepower in reserve in case of
02:25further escalation in the US-China trade and technology war.
02:30So we did get more fiscal stimulus.
02:32We got 1.3 trillion yuan in ultra-long special treasury bonds being issued.
02:41That's more than last year.
02:43It was 1 trillion RMB.
02:45But it's significantly less than analysts' expectations, which were focused on about
02:51a $2 trillion number up to about 3 trillion.
02:55So that's a slight underperformance compared to expectations.
03:00And I believe the reason for that is to ensure that there's room to respond quickly and with
03:10strong positive signals for if there is a US-China escalation later this year.