Experts deliberate in Delhi on dynamics of China's National Party Congress

New Delhi [India], October 13 : Ahead of 20th National Party Congress which is set to take place in China on October 16, the Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA) held its first Expert Scholars' Dialogue event in New Delhi on Tuesday to interpret and indicate the dynamics and trends which will be influencing the outcomes of the Congress.
The event was attended by more than 50 people and saw the active participation of audience members, comprising fellow China scholars, defence experts and embassy representatives and the opening remarks were delivered by ORCA's director, Eerishika Pankaj, the official statement of ORCA's Expert Scholars' Dialogue Event said.
The event was chaired by two experts in the field of China studies, Dr Bali Deepak and Dr Jagannath Panda, who exchanged views on the upcoming National Party Congress (NPC) in China.
The theme of the dialogue event was "The 20th National Party Congress: Xi Jinping's Political Future and Policy Implications for China".
The two field experts introduced the upcoming Party Congress of China by underlining several important developments in the build-up to the Congress on October 16.
According to Dr Panda and Dr Deepak, the National Party Congress is set to make changes that will have wide-ranging implications for China's economic and foreign policy. These events in the build-up of the quinquennial Congress are necessary to interpret and indicate the dynamics and trends influencing the outcomes of the Congress, the press release stated.
On the subject of factions in the Party, Dr Deepak detailed the ties of Party members to the financial world in Shanghai, which has become a target of Xi's anti-corruption campaign and a sign that Xi would like to limit the influence of Party elders and will, in turn, affect China's finance and business sectors.
The importance of State-Owned-Enterprises (SOEs) and private companies involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and other such foreign policy and overseas development initiatives were also discussed during the event.
Xi's emphasis on politics over economics has suffocated SOEs which have less flexibility and manoeuvrability in their operations and policy implementation. SOEs have been a major driver of growth and policy change for decades in China but the current political culture in China inhibits innovation by these organisations, the official statement of ORCA's Expert Scholars' Dialogue Event stated.
Furthermore, the speakers also discussed other topics like the shortcomings of China's poverty alleviation campaign, the scope of foreign policy engagements with India and other powers and growing economic inequalities in China.
The closing remarks were delivered by Rahul Karan, Research Associate, ORCA, the release added.