BRAVE MAG

BEIJING (AP) — While much of the world's attention is onthe Iran war, that hasn't stopped China from moving ahead with national priorities with global repercussions.

Not thatChinadoesn't care about the war and its impact on energy supplies and geopolitics. But for the world's second largest economy, its growing rivalry with the United States revolves around a different battle: the development of the cutting-edge technologies shaping the 21st century.

That message came through ina five-year planformally endorsed Thursday by the National People's Congress at the end of itsannual meeting, the nation's biggest political event of the year. If anything, China is doubling down on a push to transform its economy and be at the forefront of technology. State media described China's determination to stay the course on economic development as a force for stability in an uncertain world.

"A stable and developing China injects more stability and certainty into a world fraught with change and turbulence," the official People's Daily newspaper said in a front-page column on Wednesday. Other state-media echoed that view.

The commentaries and official statements didn't mention U.S. President Donald Trump, whosetariffsand use of military force fromVenezuelato Iran are shaking up the global order that has governed international relations in the post-World War II era. China publicly defends that system, while calling for making it more equitable to reflect the interests of developing countries as well as rich ones.

Trump is due to visit Beijing in three weeks to hold talks with his counterpart, Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The National People's Congress also rubber-stamped three laws, includingone governing ethnic minorities, at its closing session. The votes are ceremonial and nearly unanimous, designed to show unity behind the ruling Communist Party's vision for the nation. The five-year plan was approved with 2,758 votes in favor, one against, and two abstentions.

"We are forging ahead at full speed in building a great country," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at anannual news conferenceduring the Congress.

Banking on tech for growth

Many economists believe that China needs to do more to put more money into the hands of consumers toboost domestic spendingand reduce its dependence onexport-led growth.

China's leaders agree in concept, but the five-year plan puts technology front and center, confirming it remains the top priority. Analysts expect any steps to boost consumption to happen only gradually, such as expanding social security and health care benefits, while government funds are poured intoartificial intelligence, robotics and other areas.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang announcedan economic growth targetof 4.5% to 5% for 2026 at the start of the Congress, a level that gives the government more leeway to focus on the longer-term goals of the five-year plan rather than meeting a higher target this year.

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Staying conservative on climate

The five-year plan doesn't pledge to reduce carbon emissions overall, but only to reduce "emissions intensity" — how much pollutants are emitted relative to the size of the economy. That means emissions could still grow as the economy does.

The target for a reduction in intensity was set at 17%, a level that could allow emissions to rise 3% or more, analysts said. "International good practice is to move away from intensity targets towards absolute emission reduction targets," said Niklas Hohne of the NewClimate Institute in Germany.

China has a history of settingconservative targetsand its rapid expansion in solar and other clean energies may drive emissions down anyway. The country is the world's No. 1 emitter of greenhouse gases, but leaders have long argued that the size of its population and economy must be considered when evaluating its pollution levels.

Regulating ethnic groups

A sweepingethnic minorities lawendorsed by the Congress solidifies what critics say is a governmentpolicy of assimilation, emphasizing the creation of "a common consciousness of the Chinese nation."

The government said it is meant to foster a stronger sense of community and shared economic development among its ethnic groups. The law encapsulates an approach under Xi that has promoted unity over ethnic cultures and their languages.

"It puts a death nail in the party's original promise of meaningful autonomy," said James Leibold, a professor at Australia's LaTrobe University who has studied China's changing policies towards its ethnic minorities.

Seeking a "right to rest" for workers

Formal proposals and other suggestions to reduce work hours in a variety of ways were among those that got the most attention on social media during this year's Congress.

Many focused on a "right to rest," including calls to give employees the right not to respond to work messages after hours. Many Chinese workers get only five days of paid vacation a year. Yu Miaojie, an economist and deputy to the Congress, proposed raising the minimum statutory annual leave from five to 10 days.

The popularity of the proposals reflects concern about theintense workplace competitionin China. Giving workers more leisure time is also seen as a way to boost consumption by giving them more free time to spend.

Associated Press writers Huizhong Wu and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

Taiwan's military has grown used to the daily task of tracking Chinese warplanes flying near the island. Some days there are a handful. On others, many more. But they are a near-constant presence.

So when the aircraft suddenly stopped coming for nearly two weeks, the silence was both striking and deeply puzzling.

That spell was broken on Thursday with five People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft operating around the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours, according to Taiwan's military, with several flying near the median line that divides the waterway.

Analysts say it was the longest pause in Chinese air activity since Taiwan began publicly releasing daily military data.

"This is frankly unlike anything we've seen in recent history in terms of PLA activity around Taiwan," Ben Lewis, founder of PLATracker, an open data platform that tracks Chinese military movements around Taiwan, Japan and the South China Sea, told CNN.

"Since Taiwan's defense ministry began releasing this data in 2020 the trend has been up, up, up," Lewis said. "And now this lull, which maybe has ended today, maybe not, represents a very significant change in the pattern."

Beginning February 27, Taiwan recorded 13 consecutive days without Chinese warplanes flying near the island.

One brief exception came on March 6 when two aircraft were detected in the far southwestern corner of Taiwan's air defense identification zone, but analysts say the broader pattern still represented a striking break from recent years of steadily increasing Chinese military activity.

The sudden quiet puzzled analysts and raised a range of possible explanations.

One theory is that Beijing may be trying to avoid escalating tensions ahead of a planned meeting later this month between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, where trade, technology and Taiwan are expected to feature prominently.

"If I was in Vegas, I would put it on the Trump visit," Lewis said.

Others have pointed tothe war involving Iranand the potential impact on global energy markets, though analysts say that connection is less certain.

Some observers also note that China's annual parliamentary meetings, known as the "Two Sessions," are concluding this week, a period when military activity has occasionally slowed in the past.

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Taiwan's defense minister Wellington Koo urged caution about drawing conclusions from the lull, noting that Chinese naval activity around Taiwan has continued throughout the period.

"There are a lot of theories out there," Koo told reporters on Wednesday. "But we still see Chinese naval vessels operating around Taiwan on a daily basis, and these efforts to turn the Taiwan Strait into China's internal waters have not stopped."

Indeed, Taiwan continued to track several Chinese warships operating around the island throughout the period, even as the skies above remained unusually quiet.

Lewis said the limited number of aircraft detected Thursday may not signal a full return to normal activity.

The flights came the same day a US Navy P-8 surveillance aircraft transited the Taiwan Strait, in what the 7th Fleet says is a demonstration of Washington's "commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," and the Chinese planes may have been deployed simply to monitor the American aircraft.

Even then, the response appeared muted compared with past incidents when US ships or aircraft passed through the waterway.

"Relative to previous incidents when the US Navy transited the Taiwan Strait, the number of Chinese aircraft deployed today was actually quite low," Lewis said.

That uncertainty leaves analysts watching closely to see what happens next.

Over the past five years, Beijing has dramatically increased the number of aircraft it sends near Taiwan, gradually normalizing what once would have been considered major military incursions.

On some days, Taiwan has reported dozens of Chinese aircraft operating near the island.

In that context, Lewis said, the sudden disappearance of the flights has been just as striking as their return.

"It used to be that five aircraft would make headlines," he said. "Now we're talking about zero, and that's what's unusual."

For now, the mystery remains unsolved.

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BEIJING, March 12 (Reuters) - China passed a law on a "shared" national identity among the country's 55 ethnic minority groups on Thursday, a move critics say will further erode the identity of people who are not ‌majority Han Chinese and risk making anyone challenging that "unity" a separatist punishable by law.

China's annual parliamentary session concludes in Beijing

Called "Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress", the ‌ethnic minority law aims to forge national unity and advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at its core, a ​draft copy of the law showed.

It was passed at the closing session of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, China's legislature by 2,756 votes, with three opposing votes and three abstentions, according to a Reuters witness.

Officially, China has 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, dominated by the Han Chinese, who account for more than 91% of the country's 1.4 billion people.

China's ethnic minority populations—including Tibetans, ‌Mongols, Hui, Manchus, and Uyghurs — are concentrated in ⁠regions that together cover roughly half of the country's land area, much of it rich in natural resources.

The law aims to promote integration across ethnic groups through education, housing, migration, community life, ⁠culture, tourism, and development policy, the law said.

It mandates that Mandarin is the basic language of instruction in schools, and for government and official business.

In public settings, where Mandarin and minority languages are used together, Mandarin must be given "prominence in placement, order, and similar respects," the ​draft ​said.

"The state respects and protects the learning and use of minority languages ​and scripts," it added.

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Religious groups, religious schools, and ‌religious venues must adhere "to the direction of the Sinicization of religion in China," according to the draft.

The law also seeks to ban any interference with marriage choices based on ethnicity, custom, or religion, to enable more intermarriage between ethnic groups.

'INTEGRATE WITH THE MAJORITY'

Allen Carlson, an associate professor of government at Cornell University and an expert on Chinese foreign policy, said the law underlined a move towards assimilation.

"The law makes it clearer than ever that in President Xi Jinping's PRC non-Han peoples must do more to ‌integrate themselves with the Han majority, and above all else be ​loyal to Beijing," he said, referring to China by the initials for its ​official name.

Ethnic affairs are incorporated into China's social governance ​system, with clauses that include anti-separatism, border security, risk prevention, and social stability.

Organisations and individuals outside ‌China that carry out acts against the country "that undermine ​ethnic unity and progress or create ​ethnic separatism shall be pursued for legal liability in accordance with the law," the draft said.

An editorial in state newspaper China Daily said that the law had followed a rigorous legislative process, been through multiple readings and consultations ​with lawmakers and representatives from ethnic minority ‌communities.

"The law stresses the protection of cultural traditions and lifestyles of all ethnic groups... it is misleading to ​claim that ethnic minorities in China must choose between economic development and cultural preservation," it said.

(Reporting by ​the Beijing newsroom; Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Kate Mayberry)