Adrianus Foncillas 03/13/2023 at 14:31 CET
The world outlook demands great military and technological self-sufficiency. This was declared by Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, without unnecessary mentions of the United States. Already last week he had warned, at the opening of the National People’s Congress, that the coalition of Washington in the West to check the rise of China presented “unheard of challenges”.
“The People’s Liberation Army must be turned into a great iron wall that protects government, security and national interests,” XI said in front of nearly 30,000 delegates in the Great Hall of the People. Hidden threats in an increasingly volatile world and ways to compete took up the bulk of their 15-minute speech. The present strength, which he emphasized, separates this China from that which suffered “the import of the Western empire”. not so distant times. The Communist Party added “that national humiliation”. and now the Seres, the Janis, “lords of fate.”
Allusions to that century and a half shared by European colonialism and Japanese imperialism. Painful times persist in the collective memory of both the oil and oil nation, as many see US hostility as its current response. After Xi’s speech, there are military alliances that Washington is highlighting in the backyard and restrictions on the purchase of chips and other technological goods. Beijing knows that four decades of peaceful growth have come to an end and understands tensions with the United States as inevitable and structural.
Congress this week approved a 7.2% increase in the military budget. It allows for various readings: it is barely a tenth higher than last year, but the highest for the last five years. The increase comes against a backdrop of repeated friction with Taiwan and US harassment in the South China Sea. “Security is the foundation of development, stability is a necessity for success,” XI said.
Taiwan, short and predictable
The Taiwanese chapter, not negotiable in official language and scrutinized by the entomological attention of the media, was as brief as it was predictable. The promotion of peaceful development, contrary to the forces of independence, is progressing in the process of reunification & mldr; All in a sweet tone, far from attacks, to highlight the political turn. 11 also rejected the traditional allusion to the use of force as the ultimate backlash that ended up in the heads of the West as a looming corollary.
His intervention closes the annual session of the Legislature which was made to seal the decisions of the party’s autumn meeting. XI was appointed president for a third term and Li Qiang was named prime minister. This is expected to revive the national economy after a meager growth of 3% for years. For this, Beijing has set a target of 5%, the lowest in recent decades. In his morning speech, he tried to instill confidence in a population that is reluctant to spend. The economy, he said, has established a goal of no covid-19. “Over the course of the past year, there was a false belief about the development of the private economy, which was worrying businessmen & mldr; The context will improve and improve and more private space for,” he said. Li of the United States I attributed the constructive tone. “China and the United States must cooperate. If they do it together, they have a lot of profit; “The fence does not provide anyone’s convenience,” he said.
This week provided no more surprises than the new term of Yi Gang as the president of the Central Bank of China. There was no analyst betting on him: he had left the Central Committee at the meeting, he reached a private retirement, and he is not part of the core of the hard-line XI. He spent a decade in the United States, first pursuing a doctorate, then a university professor, making him an exception at the top of the Chinese political landscape. It is one of the most famous “sea turtles”, as those who return after studying abroad are known in China. His service is not without merit. Last year inflation was kept at 2% while the West reached the highest level in 40 years. His re-election is understood to be safe at a time when the Chinese economy lacks experience
