China’s leaders promise to boost growth, and fight poverty and pollution in 2020
- Annual Economic Work Meeting pledges to promote technology-based development and competition by further opening up the economy
- China faces ‘mounting risks and challenges at home and abroad’, report says
In a statement released by state media on Friday, Communist Party leaders pledged at an annual planning meeting to promote technology-based development and competition by further opening up the state-dominated economy.
The annual Economic Work Meeting, which ended on Thursday, lays out the goals for the coming year, though details of how they will be achieved are usually held back until the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress – China’s ceremonial legislature – in March.
The meeting “sent a strong signal that stability is the first priority”, Citigroup said in a report. But “some of the elements that plagued China’s 2019 slowdown will continue to shape next year’s economy”.
This year’s plan comes amid a tariff was with the United States over Beijing’s technology ambitions and trade surplus, and a steady decline in economic growth from the previous decade’s explosive double-digit rates.