Xi Jinping’s power is growing: the People’s Assembly elects China’s new government

A special session of the Chinese People’s Congress began in the Chinese capital on Sunday. About 3,000 deputies will gather in the Great Hall of the People over the next week or two, making it the largest parliamentary session in the world. In addition to next year’s budget, this time they are also confirming the formation of a new government for the next five years.

There will be no surprises, because the People’s Congress is the de facto executive body of the Chinese Communist Party; All relevant personnel decisions were made at the party congress in October.

who was elected

However, formally the People’s Assembly makes important decisions: this is how he becomes the president Xi Jinping MPs confirmed him in the coming days for another five years in office. He is the first Chinese leader since the founding father and bloody dictator Mao Zedongwho ruled for more than two terms.

The NPC also serves as the prime minister, nominally the head of government in China. Here, the party usually approves in advance a person who belongs to a different faction in the party other than the president, in order to balance power within the party.

This rule will be broken this year: Lee Keqiang, Prime Minister for ten years and during this time, Xi’s biggest domestic political opponent, is no longer allowed to run because of his advanced age. So it is who Li Qiang change it. The name is similar, but the situation is not: the former Shanghai party leader is considered a confidant of the president, and therefore will expand his power.

Li Keqiang’s last speech

However, before he had to step down during the People’s Congress, Li Keqiang gave an hour-long budget speech on Sunday. He took stock of last year and issued a new target for economic growth next year: It should be 5.5 percent, after China’s economy grew less last year due to the zero Covid strategy than it has in decades (about 3 percent).

Military spending will be increased by more than seven percent, which means a budget equivalent to more than 210 billion euros. In his speech, Premier Li cited “complex security challenges” and “China’s responsibility as a great power” as the reasons for this.

In light of growing threats from Beijing against the Island Democratic Republic of Taiwan, China’s contested territorial claims in the East and South China Seas, and increasing rivalry with the United States, the Chinese military’s increasing expansion is viewed with concern.