China's political conclave begins with growth target centre stage

China began the first of its "Two Sessions" political meetings on Wednesday, a grand political theatre during which it will outline its annual growth target and defence budget, as well as its roadmap for the next five years. The conflict "will have an impact on the Two Sessions in various ways", said Dylan Loh, an associate professor at Singapore's NTU. "The Iran crisis will manifest more clearly at the usual foreign minister's press conference. It is anticipated that Iran and US/Israel developments will get a thorough airing," he said. Former US defence official Drew Thompson said there is low appetite for innovation when the "overarching objective politically is security". "There are some serious societal challenges that the party has to adapt to, and the tools they're using are pretty traditional ones," Thompson said. But when the "overarching objective politically is security... there's no desire to be innovative", said Thompson.

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