Online MERICS Media Briefing: National People's Congress (NPC) 2025

It’s “Two Sessions” Season again: Starting from March 4, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) will convene in Beijing. One day later, China’s legislature – the National People’s Congress (NPC) – will begin its annual gathering, the third session of the 14th National People's Congress.

The meeting takes place in challenging times for China’s government as social and economic pressures continue to worsen: Economic growth is sluggish, geopolitical tensions – with the United States under Donald Trump first and foremost – threaten China’s export-oriented economic model and its ambitious goal of modernizing its industrial base. In this situation, Xi Jinping and his government will likely use the meeting to send encouraging signals to the population which, among other concerns, worries about rising youth unemployment and a continuing real estate crisis.

In this online MERICS media briefing on February 27, our experts discussed what’s likely to be on the agenda of China’s most prestigious legislative meeting and shared share their view of which directions China’s domestic politics, economy and innovation policy would take in 2025. Their initial inputs were followed by a Q&A.

Speakers:

Nis Grünberg, Lead Analyst, Politics and Society Program, MERICS

Jacob Gunter, Lead Analyst, Economics Program, MERICS 

Antonia Hmaidi, Senior Analyst, Science, Technology and Innovation Program, MERICS

Moderator:
Claudia Wessling, Director Communications and Publications, MERICS

You can watch the recording here: