Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation
By Gerald Mbanda
China’s “Two Sessions” (Lianghui) for the year 2025 is expected to be held early next month. The Sessions bring together the country’s top lawmakers and politicians to discuss critical issues of national concern such as economic development, governance matters, health related issues, environmental protection, agriculture, technological Innovation, Self-Reliance, Military Modernization, Security, and more. In short, the Two Sessions examine the state of the nation on what has been achieved and sets targets for the coming years. These Two Sessions are the most important events in China’s political set up.
For the second time, Premier Li Qiang is expected to deliver the Government Work Report on March 5, which articulates policy priorities and projects national economic targets for the year. Reform and expanding high level opening-up is one of priority areas to ensure foreign investment attraction and boosting overall economic growth. With a big and open market of 1.4 billion consumers, China provides conducive businessopportunities for foreign companies that want to operate in the country. In 2024, the economy grew by 5.0%, and the 2025 sessions will set new targets and strategies to achieve them.
The concerns of the people are brought to the two sessions by the nearly 3,000 national legislators and around 2,000 political advisors bring with them people’s expectations for a better life as well as issues of public concern, so that the will of the 1.4 billion Chinese people is incorporated into the top-level design of national development.
The annual sessions of the National People’s Congress, the top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body, are an occasion for the most pressing concerns of people and the country to be discussed. There are also online channels for people to voice their concerns or put forward suggestions about legislation and other matters. The Two Sessions is a great manifestation of China’s people centeredgovernance not only through voicing their concerns, but also an occasion where the government sets priorities aimed at improving the welfare and quality of life of the people.
The deputies who are elected to the NPC are responsible for listening to people’s concerns in their constituencies and conducting fact-finding missions about specific problems. They then write motions, which are delivered to the NPC annual session for deliberation before measures to address them are adopted as national policies if deemed necessary. This is a vivid practice of the whole-process people’s democracy in China, which has been underscored as an essential requirement of Chinese modernization.
By 2025, China has a target of boosting manufacturing quality, innovation, and labor productivity; obtain an advanced level of technology integration; reduce energy and resource consumption; and develop globally competitive firms and industrial centers. The Government Work Report, is expected to give a clear picture of the journey towards high quality development with a long term plan of building a beautiful China, and achieving the second centenary goal of becoming a “strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and modern socialist country” in the year 2049, by the time of celebrating the centenary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The 2025 “Two Sessions” are poised to set the direction for China’s policies in the coming year, focusing on economic revitalization, technological advancement, national security, environmental sustainability, and social welfare. The outcomes of these sessions will have significant implications for China’s domestic development and its role on the global stage.
