China Targets 5% Growth Amid Economic Challenges

China set a growth target of around five percent for 2024, an ambitious objective that the leaders of the world's second-largest economy admitted would be a challenge to meet.

Premier Li Qiang formally announced the growth goal, alongside the overall budget and key government policies for 2024, as China's annual National People's Congress (NPC) kicked off.

Addressing thousands of delegates, Li warned that "achieving this year's targets will not be easy".

"The foundation for China's sustained economic recovery and growth is not solid enough," he said.

Li in his speech warned there remained "lingering risks and hidden dangers" still present in the economy.

Last year's NPC saw President Xi Jinping anointed for a historic third term, cementing his rule as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

A year on, thousands of delegates attending the gathering must grapple with a litany of economic and security challenges, including a protracted property sector crisis, soaring youth unemployment, and a global slowdown that has hammered demand for Chinese goods.

The five percent goal is in line with last year's growth, but is a far cry from the double-digit expansion that for years drove the Chinese economy.

Investors have called for much greater action from the state to shore up the flagging economy.

But Beijing has for years been reluctant to confront the pressures on its economy head-on with a major bailout, fearful of putting too much strain on fragile state coffers, and analysts don't see any reason to think that will change soon.

A separate budget report indicated China's military spending -- second only to the United States' -- would rise by 7.2 percent.

China vowed to stand firm on Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, promising to "resolutely oppose" any efforts towards securing the island's independence.