Analysis: Chinese premier's canned press event and maiden report card - what clues do they reveal about China?
Premier Li’s hour-long speech at the opening of the National People’s Congress was long on pledges and short on details. But takeaways remain, say analysts.

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SINGAPORE: As China makes known its economic growth ambitions for the year, analysts say the “around 5 per cent” target - same as last year’s - reflects government confidence in its wherewithal to keep up the pace of expansion even as external and domestic headwinds amp up.
Beyond the numbers and pledges, a clear case for effective communication was also made by Premier Li Qiang as he delivered his maiden government work report at the opening of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Tuesday, observers note.
“The premier very prominently conveyed the need to communicate economic targets and policies in a targeted manner,” said Dr Lim Tai Wei, adjunct senior fellow at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) East Asian Institute.
At the same time, the spotlight is being trained on the evolving role of China’s No 2 official after the move to break with decades-old tradition and scrap the premier’s press conference at the end of the two sessions, and for the rest of the current five-year term till 2027.
“Under the current regime, the state council and the premier are implementers, implementing the policies of the (Chinese Communist) Party,” Associate Professor Alfred Wu of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) told CNA.
“My takeaway is that (Li Qiang) very much listens to Xi Jinping. He’s more or less like a secretary to Xi.”
LONG ON PLEDGES, SHORT ON DETAILS
Premier Li delivered his first government work report at the Great Hall of the People in the political heart of Beijing with thousands of delegates in attendance.
He took over the premier role during the two sessions last year after being elevated to the number 2 position in the Chinese Communist Party’s apex Politburo Standing Committee in October 2022.
The report is a closely watched hallmark of the two sessions as it charts the course of the world’s second-largest economy while also providing hints on the country’s longer-term ambitions.
There was plenty of anticipation in the leadup as observers and investors sought clues on how China would deal with multiple issues such as tensions with the US, a protracted property crisis, weak spending, elevated youth unemployment and population decline.
In the end, Premier Li’s report was long on pledges but short on details, say analysts.
Indeed, key economic targets for the year were laid out as expected - notably the “around 5 per cent” growth in gross domestic product (GDP).
For international investors, this can imply continuity of post-pandemic confidence from 2023 when it also expanded at (around) 5 per cent, Dr Lim told CNA.
“From the Chinese perspective, this may potentially signify sustained post-Covid recovery too,” he added.
Premier Li also promised to transform China’s development model, curb industrial overcapacity, defuse property sector risks and cut wasteful spending by local governments, among other things.
But a timeline or concrete measures for the planned moves was not laid out. “I didn’t see any significant breakthrough,” LKYSPP’s Assoc Prof Wu told CNA, calling it “very much” a routine report.
The report follows previous years’ report template, and the government’s work is not bad given the challenges they’re facing, said Dr Chen Gang, assistant director and senior research fellow at NUS’ East Asian Institute.
“Key priorities are still about stabilising economic growth, trade, investment and international relations.”
OF REFORMS AND CLEAR COMMUNICATION
Still, experts noted several takeaways.
The continuation of the government’s long-standing stance on reforms and opening up is “very important”, Ms Jing Liu, HSBC’s chief economist for Greater China, told CNA.
She pointed out how Premier Li talked about creating a level playing field for different kinds of enterprises.
Private companies are a major growth driver in China, responsible for 80 per cent of urban jobs and serving as the long-time backbone of the country’s US$18 trillion economy

But local governments struggling to balance budgets tend to favour cash-generating state-owned enterprises over their private sector competitors, said S&P Global last October.
Sweeping crackdowns cutting across fields such as tech, property, private tutoring and healthcare have also hurt the landscape.
Among China’s latest moves to boost the private sector is a draft bill introduced last month, which aims to equalise the treatment of state-owned and private enterprises, the South China Morning Post reported the justice ministry as saying.
Ms Liu noted that there are proposals to accelerate the legislative process for this law, potentially affording much better protection for private-owned enterprises.
“There's also measures to fully relax restrictions for foreign investment into the manufacturing sector, and also to give more market access to the services sector,” she added.
Another point noted by experts was how the Chinese premier emphasised the importance of effective communication.
When delivering the government work report on Tuesday (Mar 5), Mr Li said policies should be communicated to the public “in a well-targeted way” to create a “stable, transparent and predictable policy environment”.
He also said “timely” policy adjustments and improvements should be made, taking sentiment among businesses and people as a key yardstick.
“(This suggests) that public communication and information dissemination is just as important if not more important than the figure itself,” Dr Lim told CNA.
“This is another clue that the economic authorities - executive functionaries in this case and not the policy-making power centre of the Politburo - are soliciting the confidence of international investors through targeted information release.”
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BREAKING WITH DECADES-OLD TRADITION
Premier Li will not hold a press conference after the two sessions wrap up next Monday (Mar 11), a break with decades-long tradition which experts say is indicative of Beijing’s further tightening of control over policy information.
Since 1993, China's premiers have met the media after the annual gathering of the NPC, offering journalists, including the foreign press, a rare chance to ask questions in a typically wide-ranging news conference.
Aside from offering further insights into China’s economic and policy agenda, the sessions also offered the outside world a window to the priorities and personality of China’s second-ranked leader.
For instance, the late Li Keqiang, who served as premier for a decade until March last year, sparked a debate on poverty alleviation in 2020 when he said during his press conference that 600 million people in China were living on a monthly income of 1,000 yuan (US$140).
Meanwhile, his predecessor Wen Jiabao was known for reciting poetry as well as quotes from Chinese and foreign philosophers during his meet the press sessions.
The decision to cancel the premier’s press conference this year was made because there are usually overlaps in content with other ministerial press conferences held during the two sessions, said NPC spokesperson Lou Qinjian as he made the announcement on Monday (Mar 4).
He added that barring any special circumstances, this arrangement will continue for the remainder of the current NPC term, which lasts till 2027.
Dr Chen from NUS’ East Asian Institute said top leaders have become “extremely cautious” when engaging the media and foreigners, with more policy topics becoming restrictive for open debate or discussion amid the “tough challenges” faced by China.
At the same time, the consolidation of power by the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping is a factor.

“As the Party led by Xi is taking charge of policy and decision making on all fronts while the executive (State Council) is basically in charge of policy implementation, there is not much to say from the executive side about overall policy directions,” said Dr Chen.
Expressing similar sentiments, LKYSPP’s Assoc Prof Wu said that the premier’s role is not similar to his predecessors “under the current regime”.
“In the past, you could see that Jiang Zemin, Zhu Rongji, we always mention Jiang-Zhu, then Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, we always mention Hu-Wen,” he said, referring to previous president-premier pairings.
“But now we no longer mention these, because (under) the current regime, the party dominates decision making in China.”