To splurge or not to splurge

The annual NPC and CPPCC sessions, significant as they are for the country's policymaking, assume an added dimension this year that makes them relevant far beyond China's borders.

The sessions come at a time of unprecedented global financial instability. As the credit crisis triggered by the US subprime problem unfolds, the global economy finds itself in the throes of a possible recession. Banks in the West are writing down billions of dollars as mortgage-backed debts go bad. There are signs, such as poor retail and job figures, the crisis is spreading beyond financial realms and, more dangerously, beyond the realms of the US economy as national markets today are intertwined to the extent never seen before.

As all the tall talk of "containing" the subprime crisis looks hollow, the world searches for some substance that many feel emerging economies like China can lend at this critical hour. Can - and will - China deliver? The answer may well emerge in this annual meeting of policymakers and opinion leaders as they steer the course of the nation. And this time, of the world as well.