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今年的中国“两会”在特殊的节点召开，吸引了众多国际学者的目光。浙江师范大学非洲研究院尼日利亚研究中心执行主任Michael（迈克尔）博士撰文China’s Two Sessions Meetings Amid COVID-19(《新冠疫情下的中国两会》)。 文章表示，中国两会的召开是中国新冠肺炎疫情防控取得显著成效的重要体现。疫情给世界经济带来了风险和不确定性，中国政府工作报告虽没有提出全年经济增速具体目标，但经济复苏是政府报告的重中之重。中国政府明确表示，将加大政府支出，刺激经济，把创造就业机会、为人民创造稳定的生活条件作为优先目标。2020年是中国脱贫攻坚决战之年。对此，迈克尔在文章中坚信“历史是勇敢者创造的”，中国一定能实现目标。 文章5月26日首发于南非媒体The Stars of South Africa，现本公众号转发如下：
With remarkable achievements in containing COVID-19, China held its Two Sessions, the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CP- PCC), top political advisory body of the country, more than two months later than usual. The postponement of the meetings allowed efforts to be concentrated on epidemic control, and protection of people’s lives and health became the top priority.
The meetings are an important avenue to review the government’s work during the previous year and hear its plans for the current year, especially as the pandemic rips through the world.
The annual NPC session opened on May 22 with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presenting a government work report. This year, China broke the more than a quarter-century tradition by not setting an economic growth target for 2020. I think it is the right decision in the current circumstances. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the disruptions in trade, has brought risks and uncertainties to the global economy. By eschewing a growth target, the Chinese Government really intends to steer the economy onto a sustainable development path and let the market factors drive growth. This, in turn, will help the government focus on ensuring stability and security.
Even so, the government did make it clear that it would step up government spending and stimulate the economy to minimize the impact of the epidemic. With that in mind, it has decided to target a fiscal budget deficit in 2020 of over 3.6 percent of the GDP, significantly higher than last year’s 2.8 percent target and above its traditional limit of 3 percent.
In the absence of a GDP target for the year, the government still set some specific goals, such as employment and inflation rates. Creating employment and enabling stable living conditions for workers will remain a priority. These targets are more practical.
The report revealed that the government will target a 6-percent unemployment rate, higher than the 5.5-percent unemployment rate of 2019. The government plans to create 9 million new jobs this year, lower than the 2019 target of 11 million new jobs. Official data shows that China exceeded its target in 2019 by creating 13.52 million jobs and keeping the recorded unemployment rate at 4 percent. China’s urban jobless rate stood at 6.0 percent in April, down from the record high of 6.2 percent in February, although much higher than the 5.2 percent at the end of last year. Thus, absorbing surplus labor and providing work for rural migrants will remain an arduous task. However, China will try to maintain macro-policy continuity and stability and take steps to fend off economic risks.
Furthermore, this year’s Two Sessions are especially important as it marks the last year of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), the final year for China to achieve its goals of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, and eliminating absolute poverty. Although the coronavirus pandemic has made a huge impact on China, major national projects, such as plans to build new roads or railways, can provide employment to the poor. Households and small and medium businesses appear to be recovering much more slowly from the coronavirus shock. As such, helping small and medium businesses will also be key to solving the unemployment problem and alleviating poverty . This has vital implications for economic policy, given that consumption has become the largest contributor to overall growth in China over the past years. As higher unemployment is likely to have adverse impact on consumption, it is likely that China will, in the short term, shift toward a more investment-led growth, and scale back its economic re-balancing and deleveraging policies.
I firmly believe that China will achieve the goal of eradicating absolute poverty this year, as China’s poverty rate has been reduced from 10 percent to less than 0.6 percent in the past 10 years. Although the government will face challenges in achieving its goals in the near future, it will continue to believe in the saying that “History is made by the courageous.”
浙江师范大学非洲研究院（IASZNU）是在教育部、外交部支持下于2007年成立的中国高校首个综合性、实体性非洲研究院，经十余年发展已成为有广泛影响力的中国非洲研究机构与国家对非事务智库，成为国内首个拥有非洲研究“长江学者”特聘教授的学术机构，是教育部区域和国别研究基地、教育部浙江师范大学中国南非人文交流研究中心、外交部“中非联合研究交流计划指导委员会指导单位”和“中非智库10+10合作伙伴计划”中方智库、教育部“中非高校20+20合作计划”单位、浙江省2011协同创新中心、浙江省新型重点专业智库。
近年来，非洲研究院自2016年以来连续第四次入选《全球智库报告》“最佳区域研究中心”（大学附属），还先后入选中国社科院"中国智库综合评价核心智库榜单”、“南京大学中国智库索引（CTTI）”中国高校智库百强A+、《2018年中国智库报告》高校智库（特色）系统影响力排行榜第4、《中华智库影响力报告（2018）》高校智库影响力排行榜第9，等。
About us
Established in 2007, the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, is the first comprehensive and substantive African Research Institute based in China’s universities. In the decade since its founding, the Institute has remained focused on both producing influential academic output, as well as cultivating scholars in African Studies from both China and Africa, gaining reputation as a highly influential academic institution both at home and abroad. At the onset of its second decade, the Institute of African Studies intends to move towards a more regionalized, nationalized, distinctive and internationally oriented direction in its research. At the same time, the institute will continue to encourage young and upcoming scholars to conduct research, and provide them with the necessary support.
Qui sommes-nous
L’IASZNU a été fondée en Septembre 2007 sous les auspices du Ministère de l’Éducation (MOE) et le Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (MFA). Parmi les Universités chinoises, c’est le premier Institut complet créé spécialement pour les études africaines. Après plus de 10 années de développement, l’IASZNU est devenue un Institut d’études et un Think Tanks très influent sur les affaires africaines en Chine qui possède un « Savant du Chang Jiang » des études africaines. Il est le Think Tanks chinois sur le « Plan Think Tanks du Partenariat Chine-Afrique 10 + 10 » et un des établissements guides sur le « Plan de Recherche Conjointe et d’Echange Chine-Afrique » du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères. Il est sélectionné par le Ministère de l’Éducation pour « La Coopération Universitaire Chine-Afrique 20+20 », en tant que base principale pour des études du continent et des études spécifiques de pays. Il est également sélectionné par la Province du Zhejiang comme le Centre d’Innovation Collaborative 2011, la base de recherche de la Philosophie et des Sciences Sociales dans la province de Zhejiang. L’IASZNU a été classé parmi les meilleurs Think Tanks (affiliés à une Université) au monde pendant deux années consécutives, en 2016 et en 2017, par le Global Think Tanks Index publié annuellement par la Pennsylvanie Université. En 2018, l’Institut a été classé comme l’un des meilleurs Think Tanks affilié à une université en Chine avec le classement A + du système de classement chinois (CTTI).