By Dr Austin Maho
The Two Sessions, also known as the “Lianghui,” refer to the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in China. These sessions are crucial to China’s governance, economy, and modernization, they represents China’s representative assembly where crucial decision affecting the social, political and economic fortunes of China are taken. It is the highest organ of state power: The NPC is China’s highest legislative body, responsible for making laws, approving the state budget, and electing top officials.
This years Sessions took place in Beijing between March 4 and 6. The meeting had in attendance
President Xi Jinping who is also the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission in attendance with him was also Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other high ranking Politburo officials and representatives.
The main goal of the meeting as usual was to appraise the trajectory of the People’s Republic in the previous year and to make projection for the up coming year, setting goals and agemdas.
These includes GDP target, National economic plans and social development goals and projections. Against the background of Chinese push towards modernization and building a moderately prosperous socialist society based on high level production and technological advancement the main goal of the delegates is to set agendas and put modalities in place for their actualization.
Major outcomes of this years two sessions is the projection of a GDP growth of 5% for the Chinese economy, while urban unemployment is not expected to rise above 5.5%. There is also a projection to create over 12 million new urban jobs within the 2025 year period in China with a projected growth in personal income vis a vis new job creation.
Other areas include: A projected drop of around 3% in energy consumption per unit of GDP; equilibrium in the balance of payments; grain production of around 700 million metric tons, improvements in the environment amongst other.
A careful look at the goals set out above clearly indicates a focus by the Chinese towards achieving modernization through social and economic transformation. Chinese leaders are deep thinkers and always ensures that goals aligns with national and global priorities. In the words of Premier Li Qiang, China aims to achieve dynamism both at home.and abroad: “in setting the growth rate at around 5%, we have taken into account the need to stabilise employment, prevent risks, and improve the people’s wellbeing as well as the potential for growth and the conditions supporting growth”
President Xi Jinping in his contribution stressed the importance of developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions. to drive the Chinese economy
He emphasized the need to firmly focus on the primary task of high-quality development and develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions.
He noted that the Chinese nation must seize opportunities and step up efforts to make innovations.
“We must also cultivate and strengthen emerging industries, arrange the development of industries for the future in advance, and improve the modern industrial system. To develop new quality productive forces doesn’t mean ignoring or abandoning traditional industries. The endeavours in this regard should never be in a mad scramble, and bubbles should be prevented. We should also avoid the domination of a single model,” Xi said, while calling for an adherance to local conditions, “building the new before discarding the old”
“They must selectively cultivate new industries, business models and growth drivers in the light of their resource endowment, industrial foundation and scientific research conditions, among other factors. They must transform and upgrade traditional industries with new technologies and take rigorous actions to make industries higher-end, smarter, and more environmentally friendly,” Xi said.
Evidently, Chinese Modernization is hinged on China’s ability to build high level productive force, especially with the country becoming the world’s second-largest economy, China must be able to move from low and miduim term technological development to high tech production to achieve modernization.
The year 2050 is when China aims to achieve modernisation. It is a meduim term goal projected for the next 25 years. China’s goal of modernization is comprehensive and multifaceted designed to transform China into a prosperous, and culturally advanced and technological nation by by 2050. President Xi Jinping is the driver of this vision of the Chinese and by extension prosperity for humanity.
Consequently, China must continue to exert itself and deploy more resources towards technological advancements. There is no doubt that China has made significant strides in technological advancements, including artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and space exploration, these efforts and achievements must be built upon to achieve modernisation.
China must continue to pursue its dream of modernisation in line with a drive for a rule based multi- polar world and south south solidarity. The Chinese dream concept introduced by President Xi Jinping, which aims to restore China’s national pride and achieve a “strong, prosperous, democratic, civilized, and harmonious” society should be a dream shared by all lovers of freedom and peaceful development.
Happily, project “Made in China 2025” plan which aim to upgrade China’s manufacturing capabilities would go a long way in making China a global leader in innovation. Innovation must be pursued within the confines of Carbon neutrality for which China has pledged to achieve by 2060, with a focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and green technologies.
There are however challenges which China must overcome to attain modernisation. A projected growth rate of 5 percent is significant lower than the double digit growth rate that propelled China’s economic growth in the past decade. This is major challenge as it is bound to increase social inequalities and the gap between the rich and the poor. Another challenge is western conspiracy and propaganda, particularly from the United States. American first policy, trade war and geopolitics are targeted at slowing down Chinese growth and modernisation.
Irrespective of these challenges Chinese growth and modernization lies in greater collaboration with the global south.
Chinese foreign affairs minister and member of the Political Bureau of China Wang Yi is aware of the place of Africa China’s foreign relations. He spoke on the sidelines of this years Two Sessions. In the estimation of Wang Yi the global south must stand together in unity and s development. “the hallmark of our era is the prominent, growing strength of the Global South” he said. China-Africa relations, he said should be exploring new development path of self reliance. China and Africa would always be good friends, good partners and good brothers with a shared future.
Recalling FOCAC 2024 he stated that in the past 25 years, China has helped Africa build and upgraded nearly 100,000 kilometres of railways, and in the past three years alone, Chinese enterprises created more than 1.1 million new jobs in Africa.
According to him, Africa is a fertile land of hope of the 21st century. “There will be no global modernisation without African modernisation”.
He said the stability and development of Africa is vital to the future of humanity, and the world must listen to Africa and heed it’s concerns, adding that Africa is going through a new awakening, and countries should support Africa in exploring a new development path of self reliance and self strengthtening.
As China makes the giant leap towards modernization the global south stands to reap enormous benefits. Benefit would come in terms of technological transfer, infrastrural funding and more strategic partnership.
Nigeria stands to reap bountifully from Chinese modernisation. Only recently the country’s relations with China was upgraded to strategic comprehensive which means that areas of possible cooperation between China and Nigeria would expanded.
To drive home Nigeria’s commitment to our booming partnetship with China a new office, the Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) has been floated by the federal government of Nigeria. Mr. Joseph Tegbe a renowed technocrat was appointed as Director-General to oversea the office which reports directly to the president. The mandate of the new office is to see to the seamless implementation of all cooperation agreements signed between Nigeria and China and to accelerate trade and investment coorpetation between Nigeria and China.
The office of the NCSP is key to future partnership between China and Nigeria. Observers are of the opinion that the office should not only promote and support bilateral agreements between Nigeria and China but also become the focal in the protection of Chinese investments and interests in Nigeria as a way of assuring Chinese investors that their investment in Nigeria is safe. The net effect is that it would catalyze more Chinese investment flow into Nigeria. This would be a win- win for both countries and stand as the standard of south south cooperation.
As China modernize, Nigeria needs more investment especially the passing over of more labor intensive production to Nigeria from China as a way of solving the countries unemployment problem and bolster the Nigerian economy in critical sectors such as agriculture, mining, telecommunications, energy, health, technology and infrastructure.
