What should we expect from China in 2025? On March 5, Premier Li Qiang will deliver his government work report during the opening day of the annual parliamentary session of the National People’s Congress (NPC). The report will outline Beijing’s policy priorities for the year and announce targets for growth, inflation, and spending, and providing insights into China’s thinking on major economic issues such as stimulus, trade, and technology, as well as its approach toward foreign investment.

To analyze these developments, the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis (CCA) is pleased to present a next-day webinar with CCA Fellows Michael Hirson, Lizzi C. Lee, and Senior Fellow Guoguang Wu, moderated by Fellow Neil Thomas.

The Two Sessions — the concurrent meetings of the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference — is also an opportunity to reflect on broader trends in Chinese politics and policymaking. Are economic growth troubles and social instability eroding Chinese President Xi Jinping's political power? How has the return of U.S. President Donald Trump changed Beijing’s calculus for stimulus, foreign trade, and investment? Which industries is China prioritizing for major breakthroughs similar to DeepSeek?

Attendees may also be interested in Decoding Chinese Politics, CCA's flagship interactive website, which helps decode Beijing’s “black box” through visualizations and explainer essays that map formal institutions, informal networks, key decision-makers, and major policy trends.

Speakers

Michael Hirson is a Non-Resident Honorary Fellow on Chinese Economy and Technology at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. He is also senior managing director and head of China research at 22V Research, an independent macro investment advisory firm based in New York. He joined the firm in 2022 from Eurasia Group, where he was practice head for China and Northeast Asia. In these roles, he has focused on the interplay between economics and politics in the Asia region and the U.S.-China relationship. Prior to his work in the private sector, Michael was the U.S. Treasury Department’s chief representative in China from 2014 to 2016. In this capacity, he advised senior U.S. officials on macroeconomic and financial developments in China and engaged with the U.S. business community and Chinese officials on a broad range of economic and trade issues. His earlier roles at the U.S. Treasury included deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, U.S. financial attaché to Afghanistan, and desk economist for China and Mongolia.

Lizzi C. Lee is a Fellow on Chinese Economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. Ms. Lee is an economist turned journalist. She graduated with a PhD in Economics from MIT before joining the New York-based independent Chinese media outlet Wall St TV. She was formerly the host of "The Signal Live with Lizzi Lee" powered by the China Project, where she interviews the most knowledgeable minds on China for analysis of the ever-evolving business and technology ecosystem. 

Guoguang Wu is a Senior Fellow on Chinese Politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis. With a PhD in Politics from Princeton University, he is now a Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions at Stanford University. His research specializes in Chinese politics and comparative political economy, including, in China studies, elite politics, national political institutions and policy making mechanisms, transition from communism, the politics of development, China’s search for its position in the world, and, in comparative political economy, transition of capitalism with globalization, the emergence of capitalism in comparative perspectives, and the worldwide rise of the economic state. He is the author of four books, which include two major research monographs: Globalization against Democracy: A Political Economy of Capitalism After Its Global Triumph and China’s Party Congress: Power, Legitimacy, and Institutional Manipulation.

Neil Thomas (moderator) is a Fellow on Chinese Politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, where he co-leads the Decoding Chinese Politics project and studies elite politics, political economy, and foreign policy. Previously, he was a Senior Analyst for China and Northeast Asia at Eurasia Group, a Senior Research Associate at MacroPolo, and a lecturer at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. He has testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and his writing appears in publications including Foreign Policy, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Washington Post. He is regularly quoted by media outlets such as Bloomberg, the Financial Times, and the New York Times.