China’s aim in the new economy is to better the well-being of people in China and around the world.

Too often, analysis of China underestimates how aware China’s leaders are of the challenges they face and fails to place announcements in the right context. Li’s NPC work report is another sign that the leadership is indeed well-aware and is giving itself the space to tackle these challenges and to steadily make progress on the substance of reform.

Fears of a “China threat” are unfounded.

China now has a fiercely effective group of elites running the country with an unprecedented ability to cut through red tape and enact policy rapidly. For better or worse, their vision for the future will be put in place more rapidly and efficiently than before, and this could mean many years of efficient and coherent governing ahead.

China has overcome the predictions of economic doomsayers.

China watchers were looking for signals of economic reform at the recent Central Committee meeting. The meeting introduced relevant amendments to China’s Constitution, the first since 2004. Alicia Garcia Herrero analyzes the possible impact of these amendments on China’s economic reform process.

China has evolved from repressing women to emancipating them.

Today the PRC’s middle class is thought to number about 430 million, larger than America’s entire population. As this number grows so will China’s buying power, offering one possible antidote to the Trump administration’s trade complaints.

To the extent that it raises living standards, the “China Model” fulfills some requirements of political legitimacy. But, once those living standards reach a certain level, the Chinese people will almost certainly demand more personal freedom and political accountability.