Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation
Published: March 2,2022
By Gerald Mbanda
China’s annual meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — commonly known as the Two Sessions are expected to take place on March 4 and 5 according to the resolutions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee that met recently.
The Two Sessions bring together lawmakers and politicians to discuss critical issues of national concern such as economic development, governance matters, health related issues, environmental protection, agriculture and more. In short, the Two Session examines the state of the nation and sets targets for the coming year.
A measure to improve China’s economic development is expected to be high on the agenda, given the disruption cause by the COVID-19 pandemic to the global economy. On December 6, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) released the Blue Book of China’s Economy (2022), which predicts that the recovery of the global economy will continue to face uncertainty. China’s economy in 2022 is expected to see a growth rate of about 5.3% according to the study, signifying a big drop from 8.1% realized in 2021. It should be noted that in 2021, China’s Gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded 114trillion yuan(about $ 18.1 trillion).
Last year, China was able to realize the first centenary goal and the two sessions are likely to focus on the key steps required to ensure that all strategic measures are put in action to achieve the second centenary goal ofbuilding a modern socialist country, set to be achieved by 2049, which will coincide with the Centennial of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The fight against COVID-19 and the effective policy of zero-tolerance for COVID-19 is very central to the Chinese leadership and strengthening health care systems and reforms is expected to be discussed. China declared COVID-19 vaccines a public good and Chinese vaccines have been shared with many countries around the world especially developing countries that have no capacity to develop their own.For example, in November 2021, President Xi Jinping pledged to offer another one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to African countries adding to what had already been donated to the continent. It goes without saying that China has been at the fore front of the global fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
China has succeeded where others have failed in the fight against COVID-19. With a population of more than 1.4 billion people, China counts 109, 000 infections and less than 5,000 deaths. On comparison with U.S, which has a population of 300 Million, over 78 Million have been infected and death toll almost reaching one million. This is evidence that the stringent measures of Zero tolerance adopted by China, have paid off in terms of protecting people’s lives, which is central to China’s people centred governance.
The huge success of the Beijing 2022 winter games showed China’s high level ability to prepare and organize world class safe games amid COVID-19 challenges. The two sessions are likely to deliberate on lessons learnt and set strategies for promoting winter games, and tap into the world multi-million winter sports industry. According to a recent report issued by the China Tourism Academy (CTA), ice-snow tourism will become a major driver of China’s winter tourism and ice-snow economy. By 2025, it is estimated that the industry will yield for China an income of more than 1.1 trillion yuan (157.8 billion U.S. dollars).
Gerald Mbanda is a Researcher and publisher on China and Africa.
