Work report a reminder of China’s commitments
I’ll state the obvious: 2018 was not an easy year.
The world had a lot to deal with. Economic slowdown, bad climate news, natural disasters, the breakdown of international relationships — all phenomena heightening doubt and fear across the planet. In these troubled times, it can be comforting to know someone actually has a plan to deal with the problems we are facing.
This is precisely what I learned when I visited the Great Hall of the People last week for the reading of the Government Work Report at the opening of this year’s National People’s Congress session. The grandeur of the hall was as striking as when I attended last year, but the atmosphere in which the report was read was considerably more fraught.
Last year’s report came just before trade tensions between China and the United States erupted, and since then there has been a lot of talk about the state of affairs in the two countries and the world in general. I think what many in attendance wanted was reassurance — a statement of purpose to steady nerves and allay fears.
What we got was commitment. Commitment to China’s bedrock values, its development path and the continuing betterment of its people’s lives. Much hay has been made of China’s turn toward highquality growth in lieu of the breakneck GDP increases that characterized much of the 1990s and 2000s.
While this is an important adjustment for the long-term economic well-being of the country — many nations having struggled to build the diversified domestic industries needed to break out of the “middleincome trap” — I would argue there are other, more important ways to judge the health of an economy. After all, GDP growth does not mean much if incomes are not going up, or if people cannot find work.
So, the reframing of employment as a major macroeconomic goal was a welcome announcement in this year’s report.
The right to employment is enshrined in China’s Constitution, giving the government broad latitude to ensure all who are able can earn a decent living. Even in periods of transition, when the economy advances and new industries take prominence, this right remains paramount.
As such, one policy laid out in the report this year is the use of 100 billion yuan ($14.88 billion) to retrain 15 million people for new fields or to bolster existing skills. This will go a long way to improve the lot of society’s most vulnerable, which to me is a far more accurate measure of success than numbers on paper.
Now, in a period of global uncertainty, setting clear goals takes on even greater importance. Pressing on with development and the improvement of people’s living conditions shows China will not be deterred from its foundational mission — a dignified life for all regardless of geography, ethnicity or family background.
China is not without its problems, and it would be foolish to pretend any place is perfect. But this year’s report made clear the country and its people will work together to find solutions, even in an environment of profound anxiety. Seventy years after its founding, the People’s Republic of China can be counted on to stay true to its promises — to its citizens and the world at large.
That’s something to be proud of.