Local Two Sessions, Local Issues
Provincial-level regions restart after a fruitful 2018
East China’s Jiangsu Province reported on January 14 that its GDP reached more than 9.2 trillion yuan ($1.36 trillion) in 2018, becoming the first Chinese mainland province to officially announce that its economic aggregate has topped the 9-trillion-yuan hallmark. Jiangsu’s economy has surpassed that of Australia, the 13th largest in the world.
Governor Wu Zhenglong unveiled the figure at the annual session of the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Congress, the provincial legislature.
In addition to Jiangsu, governments of other provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland all released their work reports at local legislative sessions in January, where people’s congress deputies gathered to discuss local issues and made decisions regarding economic and social development in 2019. In the meantime, members of provincial-level committees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the political advisory bodies, also held their annual sessions.
Normally, the local Two Sessions are held before the Chinese Lunar New Year that usually falls in January or early February, over a month before the annual full sessions of the National People’s Congress and the CPPCC National Committee, collectively known as the national Two Sessions, in early March.
2018 achievements
Despite its strong growth, Jiangsu is unlikely to stay the richest province in China as Guangdong Province in the south, which had not opened the annual session of its provincial people’s congress before Beijing Review’s press time, is expected to be more economically powerful. In 2017, Guangdong’s GDP totaled 8.99 trillion yuan ($1.32 trillion), ranking first among the 31 Chinese mainland provincial-level regions for 29 consecutive years.
Economic growth in many other regions in 2018 was also impressive. Sichuan Province in southwest China is a newcomer to the club of provincial-level regions with an annual GDP above 4 trillion yuan ($588.2 billion) as Governor Yin Li revealed that its GDP amounted to more than 4.06 trillion yuan in the annual government work report.
Tibet Autonomous Region’s GDP reached 140 billion yuan ($20.5 billion) in 2018, a yearon-year increase of 10 percent.
Beijing, with a 2018 GDP of 3.03 trillion yuan ($445.9 billion), became the second municipality to join the club of provincial-level regions with an annual GDP above 3 trillion yuan ($442 billion) after Shanghai hit the mark in 2017. Shanghai again topped Beijing in 2018 with a 3.2-trillion-yuan ($470 billion) GDP.
Unlike previous years, local governments are focusing more on the quality rather than the speed of economic growth in 2019.
In his government work report, Mayor Chen Jining set Beijing’s GDP growth forecast at 6-6.5 percent for 2019, slightly lower than the 2018 outlook of 6.5 percent. “Beijing is in a critical period of urban renewal and high-quality development,” Chen said.
Likewise, Henan Province in central China lowered its projected GDP growth rate from 7.5 percent for 2018 to 7-7.5 percent for 2019. Tianjin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang and Jiangsu provinces all adjusted down their GDP forecasts for 2019 with Xinjiang reducing it the most, from 7 percent for 2018 to 5.5 percent.
“It is rational for local governments to lower their expected GDP growth rates for 2019 amid the current global economic situation,” said Xu Hongcai, Deputy Chief Economist of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. “We should shift the focus from purely eyeing development speed to quality improvement.”
Hot topics
GDP development was just one of the subjects raised at local Two Sessions. People’s congress deputies and CPPCC committee members from various walks of life submitted proposals and suggestions covering almost every issue in Chinese society. Among them, the topics that were discussed most this year included the commercialization of 5G wireless technology, the improvement of the business environment and infrastructure construction.
Beijing, along with Fujian, Hubei, Jiangsu and Henan provinces, all included the construction of 5G networks in their government work reports. Sichuan, the first province to pilot the