In China and abroad, coverage sees Beijing seeking stability – 05/03/2023 – Nelson de Sá

The Global Times, linked to the Chinese Communist Party, headlined that the 5% growth target announced by Premier Li Keqiang at the National People’s Congress “reflects confidence in the recovery”. And he pointed out, from an economist at Peking University, Cao Heping:

“In reality, GDP is expected to grow by more than 6% if the Russia-Ukraine conflict and international unilateralism do not escalate to a large scale, but the authorities have set a slightly slower target to show emphasis on finding a standard. of sustainable growth.”

Caixin, the most independent financial vehicle, also from Beijing, commented on the target for this year that, “after experiencing the impact of the epidemic in the last three years, stabilizing growth has become an important task in 2023”.

Bloomberg, the American vehicle with the largest presence in Beijing, assessed that the “modest percentage reduces the need for more stimulus” (above) by the government. And highlighted, from Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management:

“The target should be considered a floor of growth that the government is willing to tolerate. As the Covid policy has been adjusted, there is no urgency for them to execute another round of big economic stimulus.”

CONCILIATION

The same goes for relations with Taiwan, in the call of the South China Morning Post, from Hong Kong, for an excerpt from Li’s speech that became its headline, “Beijing adopts conciliatory tone on Taiwan with call for ‘advance’ in exchanges ” with the island.

“As we Chinese across the straits are one family, we should promote economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation,” he said. The SCMP added that “there was no mention of opposing foreign interference in Taiwan, as there was in last year’s report”.

QIN GANG&S JAISHANKAR

Barely mentioned in Western coverage, the meeting between the Chinese and Indian foreign ministers on Thursday (3) in New Delhi was highlighted by Jagran (above) and the Global Times, among other Indians and Chinese. In the first, “Jaishankar meets with the Chinese foreign minister and discusses a series of issues, including a border dispute”.

Ten days earlier, as reported by the Hindustan Times and others, Chinese and Indian diplomats from the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs, established in 2019, met face-to-face for the first time in Beijing.

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