By Yasir Habib Khan

 

A watershed moment in Chinese consultative democracy has arrived. From March 4, China’s political apparatus led by President Xi Jinping has been mulling over a people-centric future course of action on multiple issues, especially economy, GDP, reforms, modern development, BRI, poverty reduction, and many more through elaborate series of discussions during “Two Sessions”.   

 

Two Sessions have two parts. The first part of 2022 Two Sessions commenced on March 4 as a fifth session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, China’s top political advisory body. It sets a positive tone emphasising high-quality development when Wang Yang, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee delivered a work report of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China.   

 

The second part known as the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature opens its fifth annual session in Beijing on March 5 (Saturday).  

 

In the light of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, Two Sessions, a key event in the country's political calendar of 2022, have geared up to fine-tune adjustments on internal and external economic issues to keep the pace steady on the path of prosperity.   

 

Since economic drivers underpinned by BRI are vital, a news conference held via video link on March 3rd by the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference put a major focus on China’s economic issues. Such a head start implies clearly that CPPCC National Committee’s 5th annual session will be centring on economy.  

 

The sessions are very important as they are to shed light on the vision and progress of two centenary goals. China set two centenary goals — building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and building itself into a great modern socialist country in all respects.  In 2021, CPC attained the first centenary goal and the country kicked off to execute the 14th Five-Year Plan, preparing to fully build a modern socialist country. 

 

The second goal is about the economy. With the global economy still upset by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is to be weighted up pragmatically during the“Two Sessions” how will the Chinese government deal with growth target and ensure high-quality development.   

 

A few days before the onset of two sessions, economic growth report 2021 came to view that will help deputies and advisors set priorities as per modern economic development, poverty, education and many people-centred issues. The report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that China's gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded ?114 trillion (about US$18.1 trillion) in 2021, registering an increase of 8.1 percent over the previous year and an average growth of 5.1 percent over the preceding two years. In 2021, consumption contributed 5.3 percentage points to GDP growth, with investment making up 1.1 percentage points and exports 1.7 percentage points, according to the release. China’s foreign trade volume of goods reached CNY 39.1 trillion in 2021, up 21.4 percent year on year. Exports and imports along the BRI countries respectively increased 21.2 percent and 21.5 percent in 2021. Rising GDP also means more jobs. China’s job market remained stable last year. The surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas stood at 5.1 percent, according to the release. Nearly 12.7 million new jobs were created in urban areas, about 830,000 higher than the previous year. At the end of last year, China’s foreign exchange reserves stood at about US$ 3.25 trillion, increasing US$ 33.6 billion from a year earlier. 

 

The Belt and Road Initiative that carries profound importance in economic sustainability will also grab the attention during the two sessions.   

 

Besides BRI’s vision to connect the world through infrastructure, investments and joint projects in all sectors, President Xi Jinping outlined a new vision of building a closer partnership for health cooperation, connectivity, green development, openness and inclusiveness in his keynote speech delivered via video link at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021. Xi reiterated China's commitment to making BRI "a public road open to all" instead of a "private path owned by one single party". Under this vision, CPEC (a signatory project of BRI), remained a major beneficiary.   

 

From my perspective, two sessions will take stock of BRI’s new vision and will see how to make things happen with more depth and acceleration.  

 

On January 20, 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) released its data for “China’s investments and cooperation in countries along the Belt and Road” covering the period of January to December 2021. According to these data, Chinese enterprises invested about US$20.3 billion in non-financial direct investments in countries along the Belt and Road. The MOFCOM data focus on 55 countries that are along the Belt and Road – meaning on a corridor from China to Europe including South Asia. 

 

As a saying goes, the first impression is the last impression. This applies to the promising beginning of the fifth session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee. A number of surveys and deep consultations on the first day of the fifth session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee are suggestive of the sense that China does not believe in solo fight rather it seeks feedback from all strata of society to nurture a healthy nation.