Report shows nation's 'resilience and determination'

Photo taken on March 6, 2023 shows rows of houses neatly built in Zhenyou community, Xinzhuang township, Suyu district, Suqian, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/People's Daily Online]

The Government Work Report delivered on Sunday to the 14th National People's Congress demonstrates how the Chinese leadership has responded to the needs, aspirations and dreams of ordinary people, according to African and European commentators.

The report by Premier Li Keqiang at the first session of the 14th NPC has also highlighted China's move to step up its post-pandemic recovery, they said.

Dennis Munene, executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute, said the report has shown "the resilience and determination" of the Chinese government and its people to overcome 21st-century problems.

Munene said the government appears to be fully committed to effectively steering the country from the negative impacts of the pandemic, maintaining economic and social stability, and ensuring security in the new and hard-won achievements in its strategic and comprehensive development agenda.

China's successes in maintaining overall stable economic performance while overcoming great challenges amid a complex and fluid environment are rooted in its governing principle of putting people first, including avoiding the deadly waves of COVID-19 and eliminating absolute poverty as scheduled by 2020, he said.

Carlos Martinez, a British commentator and co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, said it's "particularly striking how in tune the Chinese leadership is with the needs, aspirations and dreams of ordinary people".

"Li Keqiang's concerns are the same as those of the people," he said. "The report discusses the impact of the pandemic on China's economy over the last three years," he said, underscoring that the resolute measures taken to protect lives had an inevitable impact on economic activity — although this was managed well overall, and didn't interfere with China's world-historic achievement of eliminating absolute poverty once and for all.

Now that China has adapted its COVID-19 management strategy in accordance with changed circumstances, he said, it's likely that China will return to moderate growth while keeping inflation at a low level and ensuring that income levels increase proportionally with the overall economy.

Kayode Ogunbunmi, publisher of the Lagos-based newspaper City Voice, said the Government Work Report has revealed why China has a "well-deserved reputation as a pillar of global stability and is an engine of economic growth for the world".

"The report, though delivered primarily to the Chinese audience, should also make for educational reading for leaders across the globe — and especially for those on the African continent. For us in Africa, the report should serve as a manual on the merits of economic planning, focused leadership and faithful execution of laid down plans," Ogunbunmi said.

Keith Bennett, deputy chairman of the 48 Group Club, a London-based organization that promotes trade between China and the UK, said it is better for China "to set a modest target and beat it than set an over ambitious target but not live up to it".

"Considering the size of the Chinese economy, even the modest target would be a great achievement," Bennett said, adding that China's opening-up and its economic growth and development are "beneficial to the rest of the world".

"From what I learned through the Chinese Chamber of Commerce UK, there is a wide range of sectors in which China is already investing in the UK, and I'm impressed by the socially responsible nature of much of that investment in terms of the emphasis on renewables and sustainability and environmentally friendly industries," he said.

Gerald Mbanda, a Rwandan researcher and publisher on China and Africa, said the work report highlighted positive economic growth after the disruption of the global economy by the pandemic.

"The increase in investment in infrastructure and manufacturing over the years has seen the rise of China as the second-largest economy in the world. The deliberate economic growth policies by the Communist Party of China guided by Xi Jinping's economic thought has made it happen," Mbanda said.

Prime Sarmiento in Hong Kong contributed to this story.