China's NPC 2023: What to Expect

It's time again for the once a year full session of China's Parliament, the National People's Congress. Thousands of delegates will descend on Beijing to review and approve the country's plans for the coming year. But this won't be the sort of legislative debate that you might see in Washington, D.C. All the plans and targets are formulated well in advance, behind closed doors, and there is no uncertainty about if the NPC will give its blessing. Instead, the reason this event is so closely followed is because it is here that China will unveil its 2023 plans to the world. One closely watched detail will be the 2023 growth target.

Chinese officials have been debating whether to set that market 5 percent. That would be a substantial acceleration from the 3 percent that China grew in 2022, and would suggest that Beijing is getting ready to provide more pro-growth policies this year. Also on the spotlight will be China's relationship with the United States and the rest of the world. Newly appointed Foreign Minister Qin Gang will be taking questions from reporters at the NPC. With tensions bubbling over Russia, Taiwan, the balloon, whatever he says will be closely followed. This year's NPC will also mark the end of a five-year term for China's Cabinet. So we are ready to get a new Premier, new Vice Premieres, a new Finance Minister, and a new Central Bank Governor.

While Li Qiang, an ally of Chinese President Xi Jinping, is expected to become Premier, it's much more of a question who will be put in charge of the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank. This is John Liu in Beijing, from Bloomberg News.

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