China prepares for National People's Congress

CGTN Europe

China and the EU are partners with no fundamental conflicts of interest -  that's the message from Beijing as the country starts its annual political gatherings, known as the Two Sessions.  President Xi Jinping attended the opening of the country's top political advisory body, the CPPCC.  Around 2,000 members from across society will advise lawmakers on key political and economic plans. With the National People's Congress to begin on Wednesday, Jen Copestake reports from Beijing.  #2025ChinaAgenda

Transcript

00:00President Xi attended the opening session of the CPPCC alongside other party leaders and over 2,000 CPPCC delegates from all over China.

00:09Now the main political advisory body to the government presented its work over the last year,

00:14highlighting the consultative nature of that work and the wide ranges of voices that brought their concerns to the table.

00:20That included over 5,000 proposals to which 99% received a response.

00:25Now before the session opened, there was a press conference from the NPC, the National People's Congress,

00:30that's the top legislature in China, with a spokesperson, Mr. Luo Xinjian.

00:35Mr. Luo emphasized that China's economy was resilient with a supersized market and complete industrial system

00:41with sufficient room for maneuver in the face of various risks and challenges.

00:45Now he said China stands at a critical juncture where new growth drivers are taking the place of old ones,

00:51and he highlighted the field of technology.

00:53He said that DeepSeek's recent artificial intelligence breakthroughs were representing major progress

00:59and the rise of Chinese companies in AI.

01:01He said this contributes to Chinese creativity throughout the world.

01:05Now Mr. Luo highlighted that DeepSeek's inclusive and innovative approach in allowing open source access to its models was integral.

01:13And he said this was a sign of China's open and sharing approach to AI,

01:16and that the country was ready to work with countries all over the world in the healthy development of AI

01:21to improve the well-being of people all over the world.

01:24Now promoting the private sector in law was also a focus of the press conference.

01:28Mr. Luo said that the private sector has thrived as an integral part of China's socialist market economy.

01:35He referenced the meeting on February 17th with President Xi and leaders from private sector tech companies.

01:41He said improving the development environment of the private sector

01:46and promoting the health and high quality development of the private sector was critical to China's economic development.

01:52Now the press conference room as we were inside there was absolutely packed.

01:56There were people in fact in an overflow room.

01:58They were really keen to hear about China's relationship with the new Trump administration.

02:03Now Mr. Luo said that both countries, the US and China, were committed to bettering the lives of their citizens.

02:09He said China and the US have seen their trade grow 200-fold,

02:13and that history suggests the two countries have more to benefit from in cooperating rather than in the confrontation.

02:20He said that sound and steady development of relations is in both countries' interests,

02:24and that China though would not accept pressuring or threats from the US,

02:28and that he hoped the two countries will work together to return to dialogue and consultation on important issues including trade.

02:35He also emphasized China's commitment to maintaining a positive relationship with the EU, with Europe,

02:41especially in this year which marks 50 years of official relations between China and the EU, official diplomatic relations.

02:48And he said that the EU-China relationship would not be changed by any relationship with any other country, and that included the US.

02:56China-EU relations are not targeted at, dependent on, nor subject to any third party.

03:06China is willing to work with the EU to implement the important consensus reached by their leaders,

03:11strengthen cooperation across various fields, and jointly address global challenges, and oppose unilateralism and protectionism.

03:20China is willing to promote the positive development of China-EU relations, and provide more stability and certainty for the world.

03:28Tomorrow will be the opening of the NPC session, and we are looking forward to Premier Li's work report,

03:34and he will also present the highly anticipated GDP and growth target for 2025, which is widely expected to remain at 5%.

03:41Jen Kobsegg, CGTN, Beijing.

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