Guangdong legislators meet in shadow of US-China trade war and Hong Kong protests
- Challenges such as maintaining economic growth and driving forward plans for the Greater Bay Area likely to be high on the agenda for the People’s Congress
- Southern Chinese province will also have to look at ways of tackling poverty as a part of a nationwide programme
As the more than 700 deputies of Guangdong People’s Congress, the provincial legislature, meet on Tuesday for their annual conference, a range of problems – ranging from the trade war with the US to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong – will hang over proceedings.
While the US and China are expected to sign an interim trade deal this week, observers believe the southern province, traditionally one of China’s key exporters, will struggle to maintain its economic momentum.
A meeting of the Shenzhen city congress last week highlighted the problem, when officials warned that the tech hub needed to redouble its efforts to secure its supply chains – a veiled reference to Washington’s threat of trade restrictions that could hamper the city’s tech industry.
While Shenzhen achieved 7 per cent economic growth in 2019, analysts were less rosy about the outlook for Guangdong as a whole this year.
Peng Peng, vice-president of the Guangdong System Reform Research Society, a think tank, expected the growth rate to be in line with that of Shenzhen but said the province faced strong downward pressure.