Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, is preparing to use the upcoming rubber-stamp parliamentary session to launch a “forceful” overhaul of the government by appointing his most trusted acolytes to oversee the financial, technology and other sectors.
The annual National People’s Congress, which kicks off on Sunday, will replace Premier Li Keqiang, the head of government, and his team of technocrats that has been credited with steering the economy through the turmoil of the past five years. Important portfolios such as the financial sector may also be restructured.
Xi pledged at a meeting on Tuesday that the party was planning “far-reaching” changes which, aside from financial sector reform, would include exerting closer control over the technology and science sectors and — perhaps most ominously for business — increased party involvement in “non-public enterprises”.
The changes come at a sensitive moment for China’s economy, which was hamstrung by Xi’s draconian zero-Covid strategy last year and regulatory crackdowns on the tech and property sectors that have damaged business sentiment. Gross domestic product in 2022 grew just 3 per cent, well below the official target of 5.5 per cent.
Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, is preparing to launch a 'forceful' overhaul of the government by appointing his most trusted acolytes to oversee the financial, technology and other sectors https://t.co/mQWZnHwX8Y
— FT China (@ftchina) March 2, 2023