The Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, table on reduced growth at 5.5% for 2022.
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Due to an external environment that “remains uncertain and tends to become more complicated and worrying” – only allusion to the war in Ukraine – China provides for this year less growth than in 2021 – about 5, 5% – but a strong military budget: + 7.1%. These are the main elements of the presentation of the budget 2022 and the speech, Saturday, March 5, by the Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, at the opening of the annual session of the Chinese Parliament.
Ritual exercise, this speech is the result of a long administrative process that indicates the government’s priorities for the current year. For 2022, these are explicit: “Do everything to inaugurate the XX brilliantly”, which will be held in the fall. International issues traditionally occupy only a marginal place. Tensions with the United States or the war in Ukraine are therefore not evoked explicitly. These will be addressed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, early next week, during another ritual exercise: his only annual press conference.
On Taiwan, the Prime Minister added a novelty compared to his previous speeches. If it is always a question of “promoting peaceful development of relations between the two banks” – the word “Pacific” is important -, Li Keqiang says: “We are resolved to fight the secessionist activities aimed at the independence of Taiwan and External interference. “In previous years, interferences were not included in the speech. The increase in military spending at an even higher rate than in 2021 – where they grew by 6.8% – is another message sent to the Westerners, even if the military budget of China (about 209 billion d ‘euros) remains much lower than that of the United States (709 billion euros).
“More aggressive behavior of Xi Jinping”
Few observers, however, think that China is ready to undertake a military action soon against Taiwan. A few months of the XX e Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, the time is at “the general stability of society”. The American Jude Blanchette, Washington CSIS (CENTER for Strategic International Studies), expects a “more aggressive behavior of Xi Jinping” after the congress. According to him, the Chinese leader has shown a relative moderation over the last two years, particularly because of the CVIV-19 crisis.
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