China Targets More Growth—and Even More Xi Jinping

BEIJING—China’s government laid out plans to keep economic growth steady this year, as nearly 3,000 lawmakers gathered in the capital with the heftier mandate of entrenching President Xi Jinping’s dominance over the nation.

Opening the annual session of China’s legislature on Monday, Premier Li Keqiang spoke of Beijing’s resolve to control debt growth, revamp the country’s bloated state sector and open its markets wider for foreign capital, but didn’t signal any major shift in tactics.