China's annual parliament on Sunday approved the ruling Communist Party's economic and state budget plans at the close of a 13-day session that endorsed the nation's new president and premier.
Some 3,000 delegates to the National People's Congress backed the plans by large majorities in quick-fire voting at Beijing's Great Hall of the People. The key economic work report by former premier Wen Jiabao, who was succeeded by Li Leqiang on Friday, was approved by 95 per cent of the votes counted. Party leader and President Xi Jinping, who was appointed to succeed Hu Jintao on Thursday, addressed the closing of the congress.
Li was scheduled to give a press conference later Sunday. But he said China faced "risks and challenges" and a global economic environment that remained "full of uncertainty." China's annual economic growth slipped from 9.3 per cent in 2011 to 7.8 per cent last year, the slowest expansion since 1999.