Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and shoring up the economy are among the issues expected to top the agenda when China’s legislature meets Wednesday in Beijing.

China’s annual major political event gets underway this week to endorse decisions already made by the all-powerful Chinese Communist Party.

Hu expressed confidence global sales will rebound once the coronavirus pandemic is brought under control. Huawei said 2020 profit edged up 3.2% to 64.6 billion yuan ($9.8 billion), decelerating from 2019’s 5.6% growth. AdSales of smartphones and other consumer products rose 3.3% over 2019 to 487 billion yuan ($74.1 billion), or 54% of total revenue. Research and development spending, already among the highest for any company, rose to 141.9 billion yuan ($21.6 billion), according to Huawei. As more people worked remotely, technology sales to manufacturers, health care and other businesses jumped 23% in 2020 to 103.4 billion yuan ($15.4 billion), up from 2019’s 8.6% gain.

China has announced tax breaks to spur growth of its semiconductor industry following U.S. sanctions that cut off access to American processor chips for tech giant Huawei and some other companies. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)BEIJING – China announced tax breaks Monday to spur growth of its semiconductor industry following U.S. sanctions that alarmed the ruling Communist Party by cutting off access to American processor chips for tech giant Huawei and some other companies. AdThen-President Donald Trump cut off Huawei Technologies Ltd.’s access to U.S. processor chips and other technology in 2019 in a fight over Beijing’s industrial ambitions. Last year, Trump tightened curbs by prohibiting global suppliers from using U.S. technology to make chips for Huawei. Processor chips and other semiconductors are China’s biggest single import, totaling more than $300 billion a year.

Struggling under U.S. sanctions, Chinese tech giant Huawei has unveiled a new flagship foldable smartphone but says it will only be sold in China. Last year, Huawei fell from the top-selling global smartphone brand to sixth place. AdWithout Google music and other services preinstalled, Huawei’s smartphone sales, including Honor, fell 22% last year to 188.5 million, according to Canalys. Huawei, headquartered in Shenzhen in southern China, also is the biggest global maker of switching equipment for phone networks. Huawei’s smartphone unit depends increasingly on its home China market, which accounts for more than 70% of sales, up from 50% in 2019.

Xi promised Wednesday new steps to back development of China's biggest tech center, Shenzhen, amid a feud with Washington that has disrupted access to U.S. technology and is fueling ambitions to create Chinese providers. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)BEIJING – President Xi Jinping on Wednesday promised new steps to promote development of China's biggest tech center, Shenzhen, amid a feud with Washington that has disrupted access to U.S. technology and is fueling ambitions to create Chinese suppliers. Trump issued an order in August that declared WeChat, a popular messaging service operated by another Shenzhen tech giant, Tencent Holding Ltd., a threat to national security. That has stirred unease in Hong Kong that the territory's status as a business hub might erode. Downtown is a forest of office towers to rival Manhattan or neighboring Hong Kong.

China on Wednesday demanded Washington stop "oppressing Chinese companies" after U.S. regulators declared telecom equipment suppliers Huawei and ZTE to be national security threats. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)HONG KONG Huawei Technologies reported Tuesday that its revenue grew 13.1% in the first half of the year compared with a year earlier, despite sanctions from the U.S and challenges from the coronavirus pandemic. Revenue rose to 454 billion yuan ($64.9 billion) in January-June compared to 401.3 billion yuan during the same period last year. In May last year, Washington put Huawei on a blacklist that forbids U.S. companies from doing business with it without permission from the government. The U.S. has also been applying pressure on countries to exclude Huawei from upcoming, ultrafast 5G mobile networks.