BEIJING (dpa-AFX) – With his statement of accounts, the outgoing Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang will open this year’s session of the People’s Congress in Beijing this Sunday. The focus of the one-week meeting of the almost 3,000 hand-picked delegates is the approval of the planned formation of a new government as well as setting the economic and political course.
After two terms in office, 67-year-old Li Keqiang is to be replaced by former Shanghai party leader Li Qiang. Head of state and party leader Xi Jinping, who had already united all powers at the party congress in October, will be confirmed as president for an unprecedented third term.
After the end of the zero-Covid strategy, which had weighed heavily on the second largest economy last year, the government is expected to set a growth target of five percent or more. A sharp increase in military spending of more than seven percent is also expected./lw/DP/mis