SINGAPORE: On a recent visit to northwestern Lanzhou city, located along the banks of the Yellow River, a particular remark by Chinese President Xi Jinping to local officials caught the attention of overseas China watchers – and the comment wasn’t about ecological conservation.
“Strive to achieve the full-year economic and social development goals,” Mr Xi reportedly said, marking a slight departure from the firm command he made just months earlier.
Following China’s economic reform-focused Third Plenum meeting held in July, his message then was stronger and clearer – that targets must be achieved “unwaveringly”.
This shift in tone, however “subtle”, did not go unnoticed among observers.
“Where normally we expect to see phrases such as ‘fully committed’ or ‘unwavering,’ (Mr Xi’s use of) the word ‘strive’ emphasises the effort and not the outcome,” wrote Mr John Browning, managing director of BANDS Financial, a Hong Kong-based commodity and financial futures broker, in his newsletter.
Others say it wasn’t just a change in rhetoric. While Beijing remains officially committed to its 5 per cent growth target for 2024, analysts who spoke to CNA said the different tune was a reflection of Mr Xi’s tacit acknowledgement of complex challenges now confronting China’s economy, and is trying to temper expectations.
“Chinese officials are often very deliberate in their wording,” noted Mr Matteo Giovannini, a senior finance manager at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and non-resident associate fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, adding that the linguistic change could be “a sign that economic pressures in China are mounting, and that the leadership is managing expectations.”
Mr Xi’s shift from a “more resolute ‘unwaveringly’ to somewhat more cautious ‘strive to accomplish’ suggests a recognition (from him) of the difficulties in achieving China’s 2024 growth targets but not a full admission that
