Mar 5, 2021
Premier Li Keqiang delivered a government work report at the fourth session of the 13th
National People’s Congress on March 5, 2021. In an interview for Xinhua News Agency on
the same day, Prof. Dr. Tang Zhimin, Director of CASPIM pondered over its key messages:
China set an economic growth target of ‘above 6 per cent’ for 2021, compared with the
actual growth rate of 2.3% in 2020. This bottom line target is lower than the estimates of
GDP growth in 2021 by IMF (8.1%) and World Bank (7.9%) earlier this year. The modest
target is designed to signal a national strategy focusing on “reform, innovation, and highquality
development”, instead of high growth rate.
Employment is another indicator for economic health. The new urban jobs are targeted at
11 million in 2021, compared with the target of 9 million in 2020. The target this year is
realistic as the actual new urban jobs were 11.86 million in 2020. The performance shows
the resilience of China’s job market despite of the Covid 19 pandemic, thanks to the
digital transformation of the economy.
On international front, China vows to foster a world-class business environment during
the 14th Five-Year-Plan (2021-2025) period with policies to pursue high-level opening-up:
further shortened negative list for foreign investment and pilot programs on service
liberalization. These policies will be embodied in regional agreements newly signed or
under negotiation by China, such as China-EU Investment Treaty, China-Japan-ROK FTA,
RCEP and CPTPP.
The modest bottom line growth rate of 6% in China is still impressive compared with
those of major economies in the world. Early this year, World Bank estimated the global
economy to expand 4% in 2021, after a 4.3% contraction in 2020. The GDP of USA, euro
area and Japan is expected to grow by 3.5%, 3.6% and 2.5% in 2021, after a contraction
of 3.6%, 7.4% and 5.3% in 2020. With its strong economy and policies for high-level
opening-up, China will become a more attractive partner for trade and investment in the
region.
*The “Two Sessions” (or 两会 in Chinese) refer to the annual plenary sessions of the two organizations that
make national-level political decisions: the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of
the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). They will be normally staged in the same
period of March.
