A review of Xi Jinping's interactions with national lawmakers, political advisors during China's "two sessions"
Economic powerhouses, role of education, 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for military development, etc.
In my previous newsletter covering the "two sessions," I included links to the Chinese and English versions of the highly anticipated Report on the Work of the Government, the Report on China's national economic and social development plan, and the Report on China's central and local budgets.
For your convenience, I've also uploaded the Work Report of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee [Chinese][English], the Work Report of the Supreme People's Court [Chinese], the Work Report of the Supreme People's Procuratorate [Chinese], and the NPC Standing Committee's proposal to deliberate the draft amendment to the Law on the Delegates to the National People’s Congress and Local People’s Congresses [Chinese] to Google Drive for you to download and share with others.
In addition, I have posted a piece on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's press conference, which includes his response to a question that I asked at the press conference.
As I introduced in the previous newsletter, during the "two sessions," Chinese leaders engage with lawmakers in group deliberations and political advisors in group discussions, exchanging views on key governance-related topics. These interactions serve as a window for observing what they consider to be the most important issues for China's development and how the central leadership stays informed about grassroots realities.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also a deputy of the delegation of Jiangsu Province, delivered a speech while he took part in a deliberation with his fellow deputies at the third session of the 14th NPC on Wednesday. On Thursday, he attended a joint group meeting with national political advisors from the China Democratic League, the China Association for Promoting Democracy, and the education sector. On Friday, he attended a meeting of the delegation from the armed forces.
Xinhua has released the full-text Chinese versions of the readouts of the three activities. The theme of Xi's speech on Wednesday is calling on powerhouses such as Jiangsu Province to play a major role in the country's overall development. The remarks Xi made during his meeting with the political advisors on Thursday are mainly focused on strengthening the role of education in supporting scientific and technological advancement as well as talent development. The speech Xi gave to the armed forces on Friday was about reaching a successful conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for military development.
Below are some highlights I selected and notes I added about these three activities.
Wednesday - Xi took part in a deliberation with his fellow lawmakers from Jiangsu Province 【Full-text English readout】
要全面落实民营企业座谈会精神，一视同仁对待各种所有制企业，持续优化营商环境。
It is essential to fully implement the guiding principles of the symposium on private enterprises held in February, treat all enterprises equally no matter what their ownership is, and make sustained efforts to improve the business environment.
The symposium on private enterprises is likely one of the most closely watched news stories in China ahead of this year's "two sessions." Xi's call for "fully implement" underscores his demand for local governments to effectively execute policies supporting the development of private enterprises, which is undoubtedly a positive signal.
习近平指出，经济大省在落实国家重大发展战略上应有更大的担当。
Xi noted that economic powerhouses should shoulder greater responsibilities in implementing the country's major development strategies.
In 2024, the top ten provinces and regions by GDP—including Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Zhejiang—accounted for over 60 percent of the nation's total economic output while occupying nearly 20 percent of China's land area. These provinces are not only economic powerhouses but also vital to the broader stability of the nation's economic and social development, acting as "ballast stones."
Looking ahead to 2025, the GDP growth targets set by these top provinces vary slightly, with central China's Hubei Province aiming for a growth rate in the "6 percent range," while nine other provinces, including Jiangsu, have set their targets in the "5 percent range." This aligns with the national target, as outlined in the government work report submitted Wednesday to the national legislature for deliberation, which sets China's economic growth goal at "around 5 percent" for 2025.
“社区规模有多大？改造得怎么样？加装电梯普遍吧？老百姓意愿强吗？”对社区里的事，总书记问得十分细致。
"How large is the community? How has the renovation been progressing? Are elevators being widely installed? Were they well-received by the residents?" Xi meticulously inquired about details related to community affairs.
从社区治理谈到社会工作，总书记进一步指出：“社会工作一定要加强，对这些年出现的快递小哥、网约车司机、电商从业人员等，在管理服务上要跟上，填补好这个空白。”
Speaking on community governance and social work, Xi emphasized, "Social work must be strengthened. With the emergence of occupations such as deliverymen, ride-hailing drivers, and e-commerce workers in recent years, it is crucial that management and services keep pace and effectively address these gaps."
On Thursday, Xinhua published a "side story" on Xi's interactions with his fellow deputies from the delegation of Jiang Province. This report includes some details about Xi's remarks that were not mentioned in the official readout, such as the passage I highlighted above.
As I introduced in a previous piece, in China, after the official readouts of important activities such as Xi's meetings, inspection tours, or overseas visits are released, mainstream media outlets like People's Daily and Xinhua News Agency often publish "side stories" related to these events, which provide more details about the meetings.
For those unfamiliar with China's context, it’s worth noting that in the past, China built many five- to eight-story residential buildings, which were originally designed without elevators. As residents age, climbing stairs becomes increasingly difficult. Therefore, in recent years, China has been renovating old neighborhoods, including installing elevators.
However, installing an elevator in a residential building requires unanimous consent from all residents, with most households chipping in to cover the costs. Typically, first-floor residents receive compensation for any inconvenience, but hammering out the details -- how much everyone pays and how much is compensated 00 can be quite the hurdle. These challenges often delay elevator projects, requiring community managers to step in frequently to mediate and communicate, striving to untangle the issues and move forward.
That is why Xi referred to community Party secretaries as “小区总理” (prime ministers of the neighborhood), noting that "they have to manage a lot of things, and it’s not easy," as reported by the side story. This reflects Xi's understanding of the challenges that grassroots governance faces in China. In this case, community Party secretaries must be skilled at listening to everyone’s concerns while also possessing strong coordination skills and resilience.
Thursday - Xi joined the discussion of political advisors
“现在，一方面，有了智联网、人工智能，教育的工具和方法会发生变化，学生能力培养会有变化，这些正需要与时俱进地进行改革。另一方面，对于学生的启智、心灵的培养和基本的认知能力、解决问题能力的培养，是不能放松的。基本功还得有。”
Now, on one hand, with the advent of the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), the tools and methods of education are bound to change, as will the cultivation of students' skills. These changes necessitate reforms that keep pace with the times. On the other hand, it is of great significance and necessity to cultivate students' intellectual enlightenment, their mental development, and their fundamental cognitive and problem-solving abilities. These foundational skills must remain firmly in place."
This remark made by Xi on Thursday were not also included in the official readout but was featured in a side story published by the People's Daily on Saturday about the event. Currently, China has achieved internationally leading progress in some high-tech fields. According to Bloomberg, the next DeepSeek to disrupt the global artificial intelligence industry could also come from China. Such progress has also significantly impacted many aspects of Chinese society. In education, as reflected in Xi's remarks, China aims to ensure that students do not become overly reliant on high technology, emphasizing the cultivation of fundamental cognitive and problem-solving skills.
“有的学校建设得‘高大上’，但好学校要看大师，不光是看大楼。还是要提高质量，内涵式发展，解决好现存的问题。”
"Some schools may be designed to be grand and upscale, but true excellence comes from having great masters, not just impressive buildings. The focus should be on improving quality, bringing out the full potential of the schools, and tackling existing issues."
This remarks by Xi also comes from the People's Daily report. His remarks reminded me of my earlier interview with Shing-Tung Yau, a Fields medallist and now at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. Yau shared with me his views on the importance of “大师”(masters) in advancing China's basic research. A related viewpoint was also shared by Yau in a Global Times report:
"Throughout history, the greatest mathematicians in both the East and the West were not geniuses; they achieved profound knowledge through extensive training and overcoming hardships. Moreover, every successful scholar has been influenced by another “大师” (master) on their path to success."
"Currently, China's biggest issue is not quality but quantity -- there are still not enough masters, which puts us slightly behind the United States and the United Kingdom." Given the current international climate, recruiting top-tier talent has become increasingly challenging. Yau said frankly, "The global situation is quite delicate now. There are many negative portrayals of China in American media. While some American scholars are interested in coming to China, others are hesitant because they lack understanding of China and rely solely on what they hear from U.S. media."
We also interviewed Lu Anhui, a member of the CPPCC National Committee from the technology sector and a professor at the School of Chemical Engineering of Dalian University of Technology. He shared with us the importance of the higher education institutions in China's development strategy.
"Higher education institutions play an important role in building independent knowledge systems and accelerating breakthroughs in key core technologies," Lu said. "To promote Chinese modernization, it is a crucial strategic priority for universities to facilitate the transition of more high-quality scientific and technological achievements from campuses to enterprises and effectively transform research outcomes in laboratories into new quality productive forces."
Friday - Xi attended a meeting of the delegation of the armed forces
实现我军建设“十四五”规划圆满收官
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called for reaching a successful conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for military development.
......
我军建设“十四五”规划实施4年多来，取得一系列重大成果，同时也面临不少矛盾和问题。
Over the past four-plus years since the implementation of the plan, a series of significant achievements have been made, while there are also many challenges and issues that need to be addressed.
The year of 2027 marks the centennial of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). China has formulated a three-step development strategy for modernizing national defense and the armed forces -- achieving the centenary objectives of the PLA by 2027, basically realizing the modernization of national defense and the armed forces by 2035, and fully building the armed forces into world-class forces by the mid-21st century.
It was disclosed at the session that China's 2025 defense budget in the central government expenditures will be 1.78 trillion yuan (about 249 billion U.S. dollars), marking a 7.2-percent growth year on year.
Wu Qian, spokesperson for the delegation of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force, explained the rationale behind the defense budget on Sunday during the annual national legislative session.
He said the increased expenditure will be mainly used to develop new-domain forces with new combat capabilities and to enhance systems and capacity for reconnaissance and early warning, joint strikes, battlefield support and integrated logistics support.
The spending will also be put into improving military training under combat conditions and deepening national defense and military reform, Wu said.
Compared to major military powers like the United States, China's defense spending remains relatively low in terms of the spending's share in GDP, its share in national fiscal expenditures, the country's per capita defense spending, and expenditure per service member, he added.
The spokesperson emphasized that China has yet to be completely reunified, and faces one of the most complex peripheral security environments in the world. "The Chinese military faces tough challenges in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Wu said.
I believe that China “facing one of the most complex peripheral security environments in the world“ is an issue that some international readers might overlook. If more people could put themselves in China's shoes and consider global issues from that perspective, China's positions and attitudes on some international affairs might become easier to understand.
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