On Friday, March 14, the Consular General of the People’s Republic of China in Lagos, Ms. Yan ‘Uche’ Yuqing, in collaboration with key stakeholders, hosted the Lagos Forum Think Tank and Media Dialogue to dissect the outcome of China’s 2025 two sessions, the country’s most significant annual socio-economic and political gathering, which outlined China’s economic plans and policy directions for the year. This year’s two sessions emphasized China’s commitment to global economic stability, innovation and trade expansion and the idea of the briefing was to analyze its implications for Nigeria, in particular, and Africa, generally. Moderated by the quintessential diplomat, Ms. Yan Yuqing, the first female Chinese Consular General in Nigeria, who in the last two years has brought her dexterity and diplomatic nimbleness to bear on her job, the forum had in attendance economists, academics business leaders, policy makers and media professionals. IKECHUKWU AMAECHI reports.
- President Xi Jinping arriving the Great Hall of the People in Xicheng, Beijing for the 2025 two sessions
On March 11, 2025, the much anticipated 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s national legislature, ended its third session at the Great Hall of the People in Xicheng, Beijing. Popularly called the “Two Sessions,” the meeting which is the annual plenary sessions of the NPC and its political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), is, no doubt, the largest global legislative gathering. During the concurrent meetings of the two bodies which holds every March and lasts for about ten days, reports from the premier of the State Council, the president of the Supreme People’s Court, and the procurator-general are heard and discussed.
The outcome of this year’s edition is reverberating worldwide given the flaring socio-economic and political wildfires, presently accentuated by the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, US seat of power.
READ ALSO: China-Africa relationship at its best in history
Premier Li Qiang’s Government Work Report (GWR) which was presented on March 5 as well as several events where President Xi Jinping met with NPC and CPPCC delegates, revealed the government’s economic targets and policy priorities for 2025. These policy priorities have huge implications for Nigeria.
Perhaps, the biggest headline from the two sessions was the government’s promise that GDP growth in 2025 will remain at last year’s level of ‘around 5 per cent,’ an economic growth target, discerning observers describe as a pragmatic balance between domestic realities and global uncertainties.
Shen Danyang, head of the group responsible for drafting this year’s government work report and director of the Research Office of China’s State Council, noted that the target was calibrated to China’s actual conditions and the laws governing economic development after thorough research and deliberation.
From an objective perspective, he said, a five percent growth rate is essential not only for stabilizing employment and mitigating risks but also for improving livelihoods and enhancing China’s international competitiveness.
Huang Qunhui, a national political advisor from the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, agrees. “Without a certain growth rate, efforts to expand employment, curb risks, and raise incomes would lack a material foundation,” he said, adding that the target dovetails into China’s recent economic trends and its longer-term goal of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035.
Wei Qijia, director of the industrial economy research office at the State Information Center’s Department of Economic Forecasting, which is part of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, stated that the target signals China’s determination to overcome current challenges and sustain progress.
Analysts are optimistic that the growth target for this year is achievable, given that China’s economic scale remains formidable. For instance, in 2024, the country’s GDP surpassed 130 trillion Yuan ($17.97 trillion). For too long, it has been a vital engine of global growth, contributing about 30 percent to worldwide economic expansion as its “supersized market, complete industrial system, and abundant human resources” continue to equip it with the required fundamentals to navigate complex challenges.
“The fundamentals sustaining China’s long-term growth remain unchanged,” Huang observed as technological innovation continues to bolster its economic ambitions with recent milestones ranging from the global debut of AI model DeepSeek, launch of independently developed third-generation superconducting quantum computer and unveiling of the CR450 bullet train prototype.
In 2024, the value-added output of China’s high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing was said to have grown by 8.9 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively, while new energy vehicle production surpassed 13 million units. These advances fueling the development of new quality productive forces and industrial upgrades, are expected to create “multiplier effects” that will further invigorate the economy.
But aside targeting a five percent economic growth, the work report also outlined an array of other key development goals for 2025, including a surveyed urban unemployment rate of around 5.5%, over 12 million new urban jobs and an around 2% increase in the consumer price index.
Qiang also said China is setting a target of around 4% for its deficit-to-GDP ratio for this year, an increase of one percentage point over last year, and also poised to issue a total of 1.3 trillion Yuan ($182 billion) of ultra-long special treasury bonds in 2025, up 300 billion Yuan from last year. It will also issue 500 billion Yuan of special treasury bonds to support large state-owned commercial banks in replenishing capital.
As part of its 2025 work plan, the government will also issue 4.4 trillion Yuan of local government special purpose bonds, an increase of 500 billion Yuan over last year. The premier disclosed that the funds raised therefrom will be mainly used for construction investment, land acquisition and reserve, purchase of commodity housing stock, and settlement of overdue payments owed by local governments to enterprises, even as it leverages monetary policy instruments to support property, stock markets and launch special initiatives to boost consumption.
The most reassuring thing about the work plan is that no one is left in doubt as to how the goals will be attained.
For instance, on the issues of supporting property, stock markets and boosting consumption, the government said: “China will refine and develop new structural monetary policy instruments to provide stronger support for sound development of the real estate and the stock market, for scientific and technological innovation, green development, the boosting of consumption and for private businesses and micro and small enterprises. China will launch special initiatives to boost consumption in 2025, including issuing ultra-long special treasury bonds of 300 billion Yuan to support consumer goods trade-in programmes.”
- Ms. Yuqing briefing the Lagos Forum Think Tank on the outcome of the 2025 two sessions. On her right is Mr. Ikenna Emewu, publisher Africa China Economy Magazine and on the left, Prof Efem Ubi, Acting Director of Research and Studies, NIIA
But it is, perhaps, in the areas of what it called emerging, future-oriented industries and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology that the government’s work report is most profound.
According to the premier, “China will advance integrated and clustered development of strategic emerging industries, carry out demonstration initiatives on the large-scale application of new technologies, products and scenarios and promote safe and sound development of commercial space, the low-altitude economy, and other emerging industries. The country will also establish a mechanism to increase funding for industries of the future and foster industries such as bio-manufacturing, quantum technology, embodied AI, and 6G technology.”
Not only that, China hopes to, among other things, accelerate high-quality development of key manufacturing chains and support extensive application of large-scale AI models. “Under the AI Plus initiative,” the report said, “China will work to effectively combine digital technologies with the country’s manufacturing and market strengths. The country will support the extensive application of large-scale AI models and vigorously develop new-generation intelligent terminals and smart manufacturing equipment, including new energy vehicles, AI-enabled phones and computers and intelligent robots.”
The work report was so encompassing that nothing was left to conjecture.
It talked about gradually implementing free preschool education and promotion of high-quality, well-balanced development of compulsory education, and increase the enrollment capacity of senior high schools; stabilization of foreign trade by vigorously encouraging foreign investment, pursuit of solid progress in high quality Belt and Road cooperation and deepening of multilateral, bilateral and regional economic cooperation.
And in what is a dramatic reversal of the one-child policy, which was aimed at curbing population growth by restricting most families to one child, the 2025 government work report said China will not only “formulate policies on boosting birth rates, and provide childcare subsidies,” but also “vigorously develop integrated nursery and childcare services, and increase public-interest childcare services.”
To amplify China’s emerging worldview, Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed a world press conference during the two sessions elucidating China’s relationship with the world. Ironically, while the US is becoming more insular, China is stepping forward as a world leader in its own right, driving multilateralism, with the main aim of providing solutions for problems facing globe.
Wang, Foreign Minister since 2013, said: “President Xi Jinping, as the leader of a major country and a big political party, has shown a global vision and shouldered the responsibility of our times, and led China’s diplomacy in upholding fundamental principles, breaking new ground, and making steady progress. China’s relations with the world have thus undergone positive and profound changes.”
In line with the government’s work report, Wang Yi said in 2025, there will be new highlights in China’s head-of-state diplomacy, which will write a new chapter of closer cooperation and shared success between China and the world. “China will provide certainty to this uncertain world,” he said.
In a subtle rebuke of the US, Wang Yi said, “No maximum pressure, threat or blackmail can undermine the unity of the 1.4 billion Chinese people or stop our historic strides toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The path of peaceful development is bright and can ensure stable and sustainable progress. It should be the choice of all countries. We will promote global governance that is based on extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefit. We will observe the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, and build more consensus for an equal and orderly multipolar world.”
Throwing more light on ‘China’s diplomatic philosophy,’ the foreign minister said: “New China stands firm on the side of international justice, and resolutely opposes power politics and hegemony. We in China believe that friends should be permanent and we should pursue common interests. History will prove that a real winner is the one that keeps in mind the interests of all, and that a community with a shared future for mankind will ensure that the world belongs to every country, and that everyone will have a bright future.”
On the relationship between China and Africa, the top diplomat said his country has established strategic partnership with all African countries having diplomatic ties with the continent.
“The China-Africa community with a shared future has been elevated to an ‘all-weather’ level. Africa is a fertile land of hope of the 21st century. There will be no global modernization without African modernization. The world must listen to Africa, heed its concerns and support it in exploring a new development path of self-reliance and self-strengthening.”
- Participants at the Lagos briefing
In her presentation, Ms. Yan Yuqing reiterated the symbiotic relationship between China and Nigeria, which she said can only get better. Echoing the Foreign Minister, the Consular General said the Chinese miracle of unprecedented high-speed growth will be followed by even more remarkable high-quality development.
“China’s foreign service will continue to provide solid strategic underpinning and foster a favourable external environment for Chinese modernization. The popularity of ‘China Travel’ will be sustained around the world.”
She also hinted of another Beijing Conference, 30 years after global leaders met on women in Beijing in 1995. “Thirty years ago, Beijing bore witness to the determination of the world’s women to seek equality. This year, people will gather again in Beijing to discuss major issues concerning women’s development worldwide. We look forward to seeing more women live life to the full and realize their dreams.”
Analysing the outcome of the two sessions and its implications for Nigeria, Prof Efem Ubi, Acting Director of Research and Studies, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and Distinguished Visiting Professor, Institute of African Studies Zhejing Normal University China, said the two sessions offers a critical window into China’s socio-economic projections.
Extrapolating, Prof Ubi highlighted the importance of structured policy planning for Nigeria similar to China’s five-year development circles to drive the country’s economic stability and sustainable growth.
Insisting that development is a deliberate and well-planned venture that should not be a prescription of external bodies, Ubi said: “What we have to learn as a people from the developing world is that Chinese modernization has targets and it is time bound. I remember that we used to have development plans in Nigeria. But how workable were those plans? But if you see that of China, the five-year plan is actually pragmatic. It is stated categorically how they will achieve it from one step to another. And because of that, the leadership dedicates time each year to evaluate achievements and strategise for the future. Nigeria must learn how to do that.”
Mr. Charles Udeogaranya, chairman of Goods Made-in-China Importers Association, who was also a guest speaker at the briefing agreed with Prof Ubi. Lamenting that Nigerian businesses are not taking advantage of the zero-tariff policy of China to some countries, Udeogaranya said, “It is important for us to develop and derive more benefit in relating with China. If we do not, it will be difficult.”
Other speakers, including Mr. Ikenna Emewu, journalist and publisher of Africa China Economy Magazine and Mr. Efe Moses Shuaibu-Yahaya, chairman of the Confucius Institute Alumni Association of Nigeria, all agreed that the secret behind China’s breathtaking economic development, characterized by steady growth and productive advancement, is because the two sessions sets targets, which are time bound and pragmatic.
The group agreed with China’s submission that Africa is a fertile land of hope but insisted that African countries, including Nigeria, must seize the initiative, bearing in mind that we are in an uncertain world, where old alliances are crumbling fast, to ensure that this China-Africa momentum becomes a movement that cannot be halted since there is no one way to development and modernization.