‘Two sessions’: China’s key political gathering gets underway as leaders try to repair broken economic confidence

CNN :

Thousands of delegates from across China are gathering in Beijing this week for the start of the country’s most prominent annual political event, where leaders will signal how they plan to steer the world’s second largest economy in the year ahead — and try to dispel deepening concern about the challenges it faces.

Projecting confidence is likely to be high on the agenda for Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his top Communist Party officials during the days-long, highly choreographed event, known as the “two sessions,” when China’s rubber stamp legislature and top advisory body convene.

The largely ceremonial gathering is taking on heightened importance this year as China’s economy has been roiled by a property sector crisis, hefty local government debt, deflation, a stock market rout and tech friction with the US — all fueling questions about whether the country will lose steam before it reaches its goal of becoming a developed global power.

Xi is under the spotlight as economic pain has sparked growing frustration within China. The gathering comes one year after he began a norm-shattering third term as president, having consolidated power atop the party and stacked its leadership with a raft of officials who appeared to be selected for their loyalty as much as experience.

A year later — as an expected post-Covid recovery has yet to fully materialize, young people struggle to find jobs, investors grapple with market losses and small business owners fight to stay afloat — skepticism has been rising about the direction charted by the leader and his new team. Xi has also overseen a political shakeup in his own ranks, further marring the start of the new term.

Those challenges may not pose a threat to Xi, who is China’s most powerful and authoritative leader in decades. But how his team addresses those concerns will have implications not only for the future of China and its 1.4 billion people, but the global economy at large — and Xi’s top officials are likely stepping into the meeting feeling that pressure.

Policymakers, investors and business owners in capitals across the world will also be watching closely, especially in a year when America’s presidential election could further strain the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

“The government wants to use this platform to send signals that China’s economy in general is okay and is on the right trajectory,” said Chen Gang, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute.

“Now there are a lot of doubts and suspicions about the capacity of the new administration … (so) they want to showcase that this government, the new administration led by (Xi’s number two) Premier Li Qiang, is capable of handling economic issues,” he said.