By Nitya Chakraborty
The 14th National People’s Congress of China ended its one-week-long session in Beijing on Tuesday March 11 with a clear direction given by the President and the Communist Party supremo Xi Jinping that China will take on the disruptions made in the global order by the United States president Donald Trump in his second term, through both diplomacy and increased strength of the country’s economy.
The NPC session, which acts like a parliament, began on March 5 within a day of the announcement by President Trump of imposition of increased tariffs on Chinese goods exports to the U.S. China immediately announced the imposition of reciprocal tariff hike. The 3,000 plus delegates representing every section of the 1.42 billion Chinese population discussed the political report and conveyed their views on how to deal with the present global turmoil created by Trump, and emerge stronger both economically and in terms of diplomacy.
The resolution on the work report since the last NPC session and the other main political resolution underwent some changes in the context of latest geopolitical developments, and the delegates expressed their full faith in the leadership of President Xi Jinping in navigating the course of Chinese eco-polity in both domestic and global spheres. As the Global Times, the English-language daily of the Chinese government noted, the political resolution closely reflected the global significance of China’s economic and social development.
On one hand, the 5 percent economic growth target for 2025, steadfast promotion of green development, principles of “building friendship with neighbouring countries,” and “openness and inclusiveness” align with the world’s expectations of China. These initiatives themselves signify confidence and momentum. On the other hand, the two sessions during NPC’s last two days were a concentrated embodiment of China’s democratic and governance practices. The rapid economic development and long-term social stability China has maintained in recent years lead the world to hope, observe and understand the sources of China’s “certainty” through these sessions, Global Times editorial says.
At this year’s two sessions which concluded on March 11, technology and livelihoods emerged as key topics. While daily active users of China’s homegrown AI model DeepSeek surpassed 30 million, elderly care robots are moving from concept to reality, and the low-altitude economy is soaring into a trillion-yuan market. While the world witnesses China’s technological progress improving lives, it also sees new opportunities for collaboration.
For example, in the rapidly advancing high-tech and green sectors, China has attracted significant investments from countries like Germany and Singapore. This not only drives China’s technological progress and environmental improvement but also provides these countries with new markets and collaboration opportunities. According to Bloomberg’s calculations based on the latest IMF forecasts, China will be the top contributor to global growth over the next five years, with its 22 percent share bigger than that of all G7 countries combined.
This year’s sessions have further clarified the task of expanding high-level opening-up, including fully removing foreign investment restrictions in manufacturing and easing market access in sectors like telecommunications and healthcare. These deployments will soon be implemented in an orderly manner at the policy level. This not only reflects China’s strategic commitment to high-quality development but also provides a new key driving force for the recovery and growth of the global economy.
What is significant about the just concluded 14th NPC is that while the U.S. under Trump has been following an isolationist policy creating tensions in trade with a large number of countries, China has offered openness and transparency in its dealing with the other countries in the areas of trade and investment. In fact, while Trump has been backing out of globalization, China is stepping into that vacated space as the leader of globalization in a much more orderly basis.
The consumption upgrade needs and industrial transformation potential of China’s 1.4 billion people offer vast opportunities for global goods, technologies, and services. Opening-up and cooperation in fields like AI, green energy, and digital economy will accelerate the global tech revolution, while China’s experience in international cooperation on climate change, public health, and other areas contributes Eastern wisdom to the improvement of the global governance system.
According to the China experts, President Trump is trying to rush with the Ukraine peace deal so that he can take on the Chinese President Xi Jinping with greater strength at the proposed summit some time after his summit with the Russian President Vadimir Putin. The experts feel that the bargaining power of Trump has been eroded as a result of Chinese supremacy in artificial intelligence and also in many more areas of high technology on which the U.S. had sole domination earlier. As a result Chinese President will be in a far advantageous position as against Trump at the coming summit, whenever it is held.
As the 14th NPC saw it, China’s development is inseparable from the world, and the world’s prosperity needs China. 2025 marks the final year of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and the year of strategic planning for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030). NPC’s session served as a key point in shaping China’s future development and a critical window for the world to gain insights into China’s policies and opportunities. For the international community, working with China will be hassle-free and based on the best practices of international trade.
As former defence secretary Rahul Singh has explained in his recent piece in The Wire, linking US control of 50% of Ukraine’s mineral wealth with the cost of US arms transfers to Ukraine, estimated by Trump at $350 billion, is a clever red herring. China has the largest reserves of rare earths and accounts for 98% of global production of gallium, ~60% of germanium, ~70% of graphite, ~80% of tungsten and 48% of antimony.
It has banned the export of gallium and germanium and other rare minerals to the US. The US requires them for various defence applications, especially the manufacture of high-end semiconductors, and other dual-use commodities and technologies. China has made major breakthrough in semi conductors and chips and earlier dependence on U.S. for some key items, is no more there.
This Chinese ban is the engine driving the colonisation of Ukraine’s mineral reserves particularly gallium and germanium. Responding to years of systematic denial of sensitive commodities and technologies, especially those related to semiconductors, by US export controllers, China has made enormous investments for self-sufficiency in major categories of sensitive commodities and technologies.
China has emerged as the leader in green technology like solar and rare earth materials, where it owns the entire supply chain from mining to processing. It produces the largest number of top-quality STEM graduates in the world to power its high- and medium-tech industries. It is a world leader in mining and minerals, metallurgical and chemical engineering items. The China experts make special mention of the fact that the U.S. multinationals who have all along benefitted from their investments in China are aggrieved and very soon, Trump will be getting backlash from them.
The global trade rules are framed by World Trade Organization (WTO). Trump is resorting to unilateral decisions without caring for the existing rules of the WTO. According to data from the Office of the US Trade Representative, the countries that are mainly responsible for the US goods trade deficit in 2024 are China ($295.4 billion), EU ($235.6 billion), ASEAN ($227.7 billion), Mexico ($171.8 billion), Japan ($68.5 billion), Canada ($63.3 billion) and South Korea ($66.0 billion). How can the U.S. launch its trade war against all these countries without getting hit itself? China as the world’s second largest economy is moving cautiously against Trump’s disruptions to place itself in a more advantageous position vis a vis USA in global trade and diplomacy. The deliberations at the weeklong National People’s Congress have been well timed to enable the Chinese government to collectively update its geoeconomic and political strategy. (IPA Service)