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China's Legislature Opens Annual Session, Focus on Economy VOA News 4 Mar 2002 14:46 UTC 
China's legislature opens its annual session Tuesday in Beijing, with economic issues dominating the agenda.
Nearly 3,000 delegates to the National People's Congress are expected to approve more than 20 new laws aimed at maintaining China's blistering growth rate in a slumping world economy. This will be the congress' first session since China joined the World Trade Organization last year.
Efforts to comply with WTO rules while softening the blow to Chinese workers are expected to occupy much of the 10-day session. Premier Zhu Rongji will open the legislative session with a major economic address. He is expected to announce a goal of seven percent economic growth for the year. China achieved 7.6 percent growth last year, but the economy showed evidence of slowing in the fourth quarter.
The Hong Kong-based newspaper, Ming Pao, says Chinese leaders also will announce a 17.6 percent increase in military spending. The move is seen as part of a long-running campaign to modernize China's military. The increase will boost China's official military spending to about $20 billion.
Some analysts say the military improvements will give China more power in its effort to reunite Taiwan with the mainland. Beijing regards the island as a renegade province that should be brought back under central government rule, by force if necessary.
Even with the reported increase, China's military budget is tiny compared with the proposed defense spending in the United States of $379 billion.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.
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