New Delhi: Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed that the Communist Party’s “top priority” is economic development, sending a message that Beijing will continue to prioritise growth despite expectations from some experts for a shift toward a stronger emphasis on national security.
He repeated the development-first language used in congress addresses by every party leader since Jiang Zemin in 2002 at the opening of the 20th party congress in Beijing, where Xi is certain to win a third term in office. The party’s first priority in governing, he declared, is development.
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Since 2020, Xi has made a greater point of emphasising the need to combine security concerns with economic progress, leading some observers to speculate that Xi will abandon the phrase “development first.” That would have been a significant deviation, indicating Beijing’s willingness to advance other policy objectives at the expense of economic growth.
Xi allayed worries about policy diverging from growth by adhering to the party line and restating a target for per-capita GDP to reach the level of a moderately developed country by 2035. The president also stressed the need to “balance growth with security” repeatedly in his speech while highlighting the security dangers China confronts in pursuing its goals.
“I was encouraged that Xi Jinping still emphasized development as China’s top priority, though national security also played a more prominent part than five years ago, which is of course understandable in light of international developments,” said Bert Hofman of the East Asian Institute at National University of Singapore.
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Xi hinted at those geopolitical tensions, saying the party should prepare for “major tests of strong winds and high waves.”
“It’s reassuring that the leaders say that growth still comes first and foremost in the current stage of development, especially as we are faced with economic difficulties from virus curbs and as we are in for challenges from the US over the long term,” said Wu Xianfeng, fund manager at Shenzhen Longteng Assets Management Co. “If we were to go back on our target for development it would be very damaging for confidence.”
In a reference to worries over a break with the West, the president reiterated the party’s key economic objectives, such as “dual circulation,” which drives growth through domestic demand. He went on to say that supply chains should have greater “resilience and security.”
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