This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-opens-ceremonial-congress-key-annual-political-event/2016/03/04/fcc854ce-e270-11e5-8c00-8aa03741dced_story.html
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| The Latest: China to boost defense spending by 7.6 percent | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| BEIJING — China is kicking off its rubberstamp parliament session, the main event on its political calendar, on Saturday. The gathering of nearly 3,000 delegates in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People comes amid slowing growth in China’s economy and tension over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea. The session will end March 16. | BEIJING — China is kicking off its rubberstamp parliament session, the main event on its political calendar, on Saturday. The gathering of nearly 3,000 delegates in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People comes amid slowing growth in China’s economy and tension over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea. The session will end March 16. |
| Here are the latest developments. All times are local. | Here are the latest developments. All times are local. |
| 10:45 a.m. Saturday | |
| An advance copy of the budget to China’s national congress says the government will increase national defense spending by 7.6 percent in 2016, the smallest increase in six years. It reflects slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy and a drawdown of troops as Beijing seeks to build a more streamlined, modern military. | |
| The figure in Saturday’s report comes a day after the spokeswoman for the legislature, the National People’s Congress, said China would boost defense spending by about 7 to 8 percent. | |
| The People’s Liberation Army is being trimmed to 2 million troops from 2.3 million but will still be the world’s largest standing military. China’s plan to spend 954 billion yuan ($146 billion) on defense spending this year is still less than one-third of what the U.S. is proposing to spend this year. | |
| 10:30 a.m. | |
| As in other years, there are groups of young women in tall red coats and young men in gray uniforms assigned to give directions in Tiananmen Square, but they spend a good deal of time posing and jumping in unison for pictures. Journalists from domestic and international media outlets are in the square, flanked by imposing communist edifices. Many are using cellphones to take selfies in several directions. | |
| 10:15 a.m. | |
| In his speech to delegates, Premier Li Keqiang (pronounced “Lee kuh-chiang”) has pledged to boost consumption in areas such as elder care, health services as well as to promote the linking of offline services with Internet users. | |
| As China’s population ages, demand for elder care is projected to grow as is the need for better medical services. Meanwhile, venture capital investors and the country’s Internet giants have poured billions of dollars into an array of mobile platforms that connect smartphone users with movie ticketing, food delivery, restaurant reservation and flight booking services. | |
| The Chinese government hopes such services can help drive domestic consumption, which swelled as a percentage of GDP from 36.8 percent in 2005 to 44.5 percent last year. | |
| 9:41 a.m. | |
| Li says China needs to fix its environmental problem: “We must build a beautiful China where the sky is blue the earth is green and the water runs clear.” | |
| Outside the Great Hall of the People where he is speaking, the air in Tiananmen Square is still a light hazy gray, although significantly better than Friday, when Beijing was smothered by the worst pollution so far in 2016. The city’s levels of the dangerous PM2.5 particles were above 400 micrograms per cubic meter in some places, more than 16 times World Health Organization safety level. | Outside the Great Hall of the People where he is speaking, the air in Tiananmen Square is still a light hazy gray, although significantly better than Friday, when Beijing was smothered by the worst pollution so far in 2016. The city’s levels of the dangerous PM2.5 particles were above 400 micrograms per cubic meter in some places, more than 16 times World Health Organization safety level. |
| Li’s speech opened China’s rubberstamp parliament session, the main event on its political calendar. | Li’s speech opened China’s rubberstamp parliament session, the main event on its political calendar. |
| __ | __ |
| 9:35 a.m. | 9:35 a.m. |
| Li moves from a recap of the past year to his forward-looking portion of his speech. | Li moves from a recap of the past year to his forward-looking portion of his speech. |
| He promises innovative technology and advanced manufacturing by 2020, when China’s output should reach 90 trillion yuan and says science and R&D will account for 2.5 percent of China’s GDP and a significant amount of world research spending. “This will be a remarkable achievement,” he says. | He promises innovative technology and advanced manufacturing by 2020, when China’s output should reach 90 trillion yuan and says science and R&D will account for 2.5 percent of China’s GDP and a significant amount of world research spending. “This will be a remarkable achievement,” he says. |
| __ | __ |
| 9:29 a.m. | 9:29 a.m. |
| Li mentions two disasters that struck China this year, a cruise shipwreck in the Yangtze River and a massive chemical explosion in Tianjin, saying the deaths and injuries “were devastating and profound lessons can never be forgotten.” He says “there are still inadequacies in the work of the government” and instances where employees are unable to fulfill their duties. “We must be more mindful of the difficulties ahead,” he said | Li mentions two disasters that struck China this year, a cruise shipwreck in the Yangtze River and a massive chemical explosion in Tianjin, saying the deaths and injuries “were devastating and profound lessons can never be forgotten.” He says “there are still inadequacies in the work of the government” and instances where employees are unable to fulfill their duties. “We must be more mindful of the difficulties ahead,” he said |
| On behalf of China’s Cabinet, Li expresses gratitude for accomplishments in the past year to ethnic minorities, other political parties in China and the governments in Hong Kong and Macao, drawing repeated rounds of applause. | On behalf of China’s Cabinet, Li expresses gratitude for accomplishments in the past year to ethnic minorities, other political parties in China and the governments in Hong Kong and Macao, drawing repeated rounds of applause. |
| Although China’s technically has other political parties and a plethora of ethnic minorities represented in its people’s congress, the body is largely a rubber-stamp parliament and decision-making is concentrated within a small circle of the Communist Party leadership. | Although China’s technically has other political parties and a plethora of ethnic minorities represented in its people’s congress, the body is largely a rubber-stamp parliament and decision-making is concentrated within a small circle of the Communist Party leadership. |
| __ | __ |
| 9:18 a.m. Saturday | 9:18 a.m. Saturday |
| Premier Li Keqiang pledges to push forward with China’s economic transformation, re-emphasizing two government plans, Internet Plus to incentivize Internet and e-commerce-related businesses and “Made in China 2025” to upgrade China’s manufacturing facilities. | Premier Li Keqiang pledges to push forward with China’s economic transformation, re-emphasizing two government plans, Internet Plus to incentivize Internet and e-commerce-related businesses and “Made in China 2025” to upgrade China’s manufacturing facilities. |
| In the past year, China has cut millions of tons of excess production capacity in steel, glass and aluminum and other inefficient heavy industries. | In the past year, China has cut millions of tons of excess production capacity in steel, glass and aluminum and other inefficient heavy industries. |
| Delegates gathered in the cavernous Great Hall of the People, some wearing traditional garb, read through printed copies of the report as Li spoke, some of them adding their own notes in pen. | Delegates gathered in the cavernous Great Hall of the People, some wearing traditional garb, read through printed copies of the report as Li spoke, some of them adding their own notes in pen. |
| __ | __ |
| 9:00 a.m. | 9:00 a.m. |
| With delegates already in their seats, Chinese leaders file into the cavernous, red-carpeted Great Hall of the People to piped martial music for the opening of the National People’s Congress. A bell rings at about 9:00 a.m. and congress Chairman Zhang Dejiang declares the session open, saying that 2,890 delegates are present, with 53 absent. All stand as the Chinese national anthem plays. Premier Li Keqiang then begins to deliver his speech. | With delegates already in their seats, Chinese leaders file into the cavernous, red-carpeted Great Hall of the People to piped martial music for the opening of the National People’s Congress. A bell rings at about 9:00 a.m. and congress Chairman Zhang Dejiang declares the session open, saying that 2,890 delegates are present, with 53 absent. All stand as the Chinese national anthem plays. Premier Li Keqiang then begins to deliver his speech. |
| _ | _ |
| 8:00 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. |
| An advance copy of Premier Li Keqiang’s annual work report delivered to the legislature sets an economic growth target of 6.5-7 percent for this year, down from last year’s goal of “about 7 percent.” China’s economy has cooled steadily as the ruling Communist Party tries to replace a worn-out model based on trade and investment with self-sustaining growth driven by domestic consumption. | An advance copy of Premier Li Keqiang’s annual work report delivered to the legislature sets an economic growth target of 6.5-7 percent for this year, down from last year’s goal of “about 7 percent.” China’s economy has cooled steadily as the ruling Communist Party tries to replace a worn-out model based on trade and investment with self-sustaining growth driven by domestic consumption. |
| _ | _ |
| 6:41 a.m. | 6:41 a.m. |
| Crowds gathered near the iconic Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing for a flag-raising ceremony ahead of the opening session of China’s annual ceremonial legislature. The square itself is closed to the public, and onlookers watched from across a street amid tight security ahead of the session. | Crowds gathered near the iconic Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing for a flag-raising ceremony ahead of the opening session of China’s annual ceremonial legislature. The square itself is closed to the public, and onlookers watched from across a street amid tight security ahead of the session. |
| Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |