China’s leadership used its annual parliamentary session to project the country as a stabilizing force amid global upheaval, endorsing a five-year plan that emphasizes technology-led development even as the world watches the Iran war.
The message appeared in coverage and editorials from state media ahead of and during the National People’s Congress, the country’s biggest political event of the year. In a front-page column published Wednesday, the People’s Daily said: “A stable and developing China injects more stability and certainty into a world fraught with change and turbulence,” language echoed by other state media outlets in coverage of the congress closing session.
At the conclusion of the annual meeting, lawmakers endorsed the five-year plan, which the report described as formally endorsed Thursday. While the reporting said the Iran war and its effects on energy supplies and geopolitics remain factors, it also said China’s rivalry with the United States is shaped by a different battle: the development of cutting-edge technologies expected to determine the next stage of global competition.
The congress also approved three laws at its closing session, including a law governing ethnic minorities. The report said the votes were ceremonial and nearly unanimous, designed to show unity behind the ruling Communist Party’s vision, and it said the five-year plan was approved with 2,758 votes in favor, one against, and two abstentions. Foreign Minister Wang Yi told an annual news conference during the congress: “We are forging ahead at full speed in building a great country.”
The reporting linked China’s stability messaging to broader disputes over the international order. It said state media and officials publicly defended the post-World War II system, while arguing it should be made more equitable to reflect the interests of developing countries as well as rich ones. The report said U.S. President Donald Trump, whose tariffs and use of military force from Venezuela to Iran are described as shaking up the global order, was not mentioned in the commentaries and official statements, and it said Trump is due to visit Beijing in three weeks to hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Banking on tech for growth
The five-year plan places technology front and center, reinforcing that it remains China’s top priority, according to the reporting. Many economists expect China will need to strengthen domestic spending by putting more money into consumers’ hands, and the reporting said China’s leaders agree in concept but expect consumption gains to happen gradually, including through expanding social security and health care benefits. It said government funds are expected to flow into artificial intelligence, robotics and other technology areas as the plan is carried out.
At the start of the congress, Premier Li Qiang announced a growth target for 2026 of 4.5% to 5%, a figure described as giving the government more leeway to focus on the plan’s longer-term goals rather than chasing a higher number for the current year.
Staying conservative on climate
On climate policy, the plan does not pledge to reduce carbon emissions overall, the report said. Instead, it seeks to reduce “emissions intensity,” a measure of how much pollutants are emitted relative to the size of the economy, leaving open the possibility that emissions could rise as the economy grows.
The reporting said the intensity reduction target was set at 17% and that analysts expected this could allow emissions to grow by 3% or more. Niklas Hohne of the NewClimate Institute, quoted in the report, said: “International good practice is to move away from intensity targets towards absolute emission reduction targets.” The report also said China has a history of setting conservative targets and that its rapid expansion in solar and other clean energies may still drive emissions down.
Regulating ethnic groups
A sweeping ethnic minorities law endorsed by the congress is aimed at solidifying what critics describe as a government policy of assimilation, the reporting said. It said the law emphasizes “a common consciousness of the Chinese nation,” and that the government said it is intended to foster a stronger sense of community and shared economic development among ethnic groups. The reporting said the law reflects an approach under Xi that prioritizes unity over ethnic cultures and their languages.
In the report, James Leibold, a professor at Australia’s LaTrobe University who has studied China’s changing policies toward ethnic minorities, said the law “puts a death nail in the party’s original promise of meaningful autonomy.”
Seeking a “right to rest” for workers
Alongside the economic and regulatory changes, the congress highlighted popular proposals aimed at reducing work hours and improving workers’ time outside of work. The reporting said many discussions focused on a “right to rest,” including calls to give employees the right not to respond to work messages after hours.
The report said many Chinese workers receive only five days of paid vacation per year, and it cited a proposal by Yu Miaojie, an economist and a deputy to the congress, to raise the minimum statutory annual leave from five to 10 days. The reporting said the popularity of the proposals reflects concern about intense workplace competition, and it linked expanded leisure time to the goal of boosting consumption by giving workers more time to spend.
Associated Press writers Huizhong Wu and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.