beijing china has set growth target of over 6 for 2021 chinese premier li keqiang announced friday at an annual parliamentary meeting the countrys most important political event of the year such growth would come off a low base china reported gdp growth of 23 last year the only major economy to expand amid the coronavirus pandemic the countrys official economic figures are often doubted for their accuracy li announced the growth target in a government work report delivered at the opening ceremony of the national peoples congress the meeting is part of beijings two sessions annual parliamentary gathering which sets economic and political national priorities for 2021 the premier struck an overall positive tone on chinas economic recovery from the pandemic while noting areas of weakness such as impediments to consumer spending tough conditions for small businesses and mounting pressure in maintaining stable employment for 2021 li said china aimed for an urban unemployment rate of around 55 and targeted the creation of more than 11 million new urban jobs the same as in 2019 and up from 9 million last year china will also aim for an increase of around 3 in the consumer price index a measure of inflation li said strengthening science and technology development was among major tasks for the year li said he noted that in forestalling and defusing risks in the financial sector and other areas we face formidable tasks on international trade li said the country would promote the growth of mutually beneficial chinaus business relations on the basis of equality and mutual respect he did not elaborate further but said china will work to accelerate free trade negotiations with japan and south korea and actively consider joining the comprehensive and progressive agreement for transpacific partnership the cptpp trade deal was previously known as the transpacific partnership which former president donald trump withdrew the us from immediately upon inauguration in 2017 its not yet clear whether president joe bidens administration will push for the us to rejoin the deal tensions that escalated between china and the us in the last few years have shifted from just trade into areas such as technology and controversy over the origins of covid19 in prepared remarks li said friday there were still weak links in chinas control of covid19 but that the economy had sufficiently recovered li said there are no plans for new bond issuance for combating the effects of the pandemic and that the deficittogdp ratio would be around 32 lower than last years target of over 36 he also repeated existing commitments to allowing more foreign investment in domestic industries the chinese premier said the country would boost military training and preparedness and improve defenserelated technology in a separate report friday chinas finance ministry said spending on national defense would rise 68 to nearly 136 trillion yuan 2101 billion thats slightly faster than last years 66 increase li said the country would resolutely deter any separatist activity that seeks the independence of taiwan while remaining committed to peaceful reunification with the region which beijing considers a breakaway province he also said the central government will improve the relevant systems and mechanisms of the semiautonomous regions of hong kong and macao one of the agenda items for this years national peoples congress is to consider a draft for changing the electoral system of hong kong top officials have spoken publicly in the last few weeks about how hong kongs electoral system should be changed so that only central government supporters would oversee the semiautonomous region the annual two sessions meeting has overseen changes such as president xi jinpings abolition of term limits in 2018 and the proposal for a new security law for hong kong last year the otherwise generally symbolic gathering takes on particular significance this year as it marks the beginning of chinas fiveyear development plan the 14th such plan in the countrys history it is also the 100th anniversary of the ruling communist party the political advisory body the chinese peoples political consultative conference held its opening ceremony thursday the national peoples congress legislature began its annual gathering on friday the two meetings are set to wrap up late next week