China’s Two Sessions: Key Policy Priorities and Challenges

037 – 27 March 2024 The authors' views are their own and do not represent the official position of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies of the S. [...] The main themes for the year encompassed China’s peaceful development, advocacy for the Global South amid competition with the United States, cross-strait relations, and productivity. [...] The main themes introduced for the year included China’s peaceful development; China’s role as a champion of the Global South amid sustained strategic competition with the United States; peaceful development of cross-strait relations; and productivity, development, and modernisation. [...] The work report referenced China’s role as champion of the Global South, echoing Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s earlier remarks that the expansion of the BRICS economic bloc was a reflection of the “collective rise of the Global South” in the shift toward “multipolarity”. [...] Cancelling the annual premier press conferences signals a reduced focus on the premier’s role, further centralisation of power under CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping, and the tightening of media and information control at the top level.