Tech and innovation take centre stage at the Two Sessions economic briefing in Beijing, as China outlines steps to grow its economy amid grim global landscape.

China has set a 5-percent GDP growth target for 2025, but the economy continues to struggle under a prolonged property market slump

Chinese President Xi Jinping reads during a speech by Premier Li Qiang at the opening session of the National Peoples Congress, or NPC, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 5, 2025. Charlie Campbell is a correspondent at TIME, based in the Singapore bureau.

As Chinese leaders meet in Beijing, they are striking a confident posture despite serious challenges to the economy and growing pressure from the United States.

China promised greater efforts to support consumption and cushion the impact of an escalating trade war with the United States on an economy that Beijing is determined to grow by another 5%-or-so this year.

Fresh off the global success of DeepSeek’s latest artificial intelligence reasoning model, China’s top economic officials have vowed to set up a state-backed fund to support technological innovation.

Sustaining economic growth by raising domestic consumption is one of the priorities for China's government this year

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and shoring up the economy are among the issues expected to top the agenda when China’s legislature meets Wednesday in Beijing. Almost 2,900 delegates have arrived in Beijing for the annual session of the largely rubber-stamp parliament,