BEIJING (AP) – China is kicking off its rubberstamp parliament session, the main event on its political calendar, on Saturday. The gathering of nearly 3,000 delegates in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People comes amid slowing growth in China’s economy and tension over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea. The session will end March 16.
Here are the latest developments. All times are local.
9:35 a.m.
Premier Li Keqiang moves from a recap of the past year to his forward-looking portion of his speech.
He promises innovative technology and advanced manufacturing by 2020, when China’s output should reach 90 trillion yuan and says science and R&D will account for 2.5 percent of China’s GDP and a significant amount of world research spending. “This will be a remarkable achievement,” he says.