China’s premier flags ‘sense of urgency’ to provincial leaders in call to action
- With economic challenges mounting from both internal and external sources, Li Keqiang implores local-level authorities to do their part
- Meeting comes amid growing frustration over China’s restrictive zero-Covid efforts, which threaten to take a heavy toll on GDP growth this year
A meeting between China’s premier and local-level officials shows how Beijing is attempting to put the country on high alert for “unexpected changes” both domestically and externally, with a fresh warning of mounting downward pressure on the world’s second-largest economy.
“[We must] strengthen the sense of urgency,” Li Keqiang said at a symposium with multiple provincial heads on Monday, in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
The premier called on the local authorities to keep employment and prices stable, to help shore up the Chinese economy.
“We need to be highly vigilant for unexpected changes in the international and domestic situations, and downward economic pressure has further mounted,” he cautioned at the sort of quarterly symposium, which aims to assess the economic situation across China and discuss what needs to be done next.
The repeated attempts by Beijing to address headwinds and economic uncertainties come as many analysts and organisations have raised alarms about China’s economic outlook.