Two Sessions Roundtable: Government Work Report in eyes of media

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The 2019 Government Work Report was delivered by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the opening day of the Second Session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC). In the report, Premier Li listed measures and targets to stabilize the economy and improve social well-being.

In this episode of CGTN Two Sessions Roundtable, reporters from CGTN, CRI and Global Times share their views on the newly released annual Government Work Report.

In the report, China vows to further reduce the population of its rural poor by over 10 million this year. Mike Walter, an anchor from CGTN America, said he was impressed by this target. Walter said it's very difficult to lift all these people out of poverty, and yet “China has been able to do it and they've been doing it in a remarkable way."

Wang Wenwen, an editor from Global Times, focused more on China's defense budget. According to a draft budget report submitted to the annual session of the NPC on Tuesday, China will lower its defense budget growth rate to 7.5 percent in 2019, from last year's 8.1 percent. “It's within the expectation of the Chinese people as well as the world,” Wang said.

CGTN reporter Hou Na agreed with Wang, quoting NPC spokesperson Zhang Yesui that “China doesn't pose a threat to any country, and the defense budget counts for only 1.3 percent of China's GDP."

Luo Laiming, a reporter from China Radio International, on the other hand, paid more attention to the numbers related to everyone's daily lives. He mentioned he was most impressed by the reduction in broadband and mobile Internet rates. This year, the average rates for mobile Internet services will be further cut by more than 20 percent, says the Government Work Report.

China's annual Two Sessions are underway. To find out more about China's annual top political gatherings from a behind-the-scenes look, please follow CGTN's media roundtable talks in the following days.