When people in China talk about the "two meetings",
they mean the annual gatherings of the country's legislature and its advisory body in March.
But another pair of meetings this month could prove more important for China's economy.
The just-concluded Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), a yearly gathering of leaders,
has set the direction for economic policy in 2026.
Meanwhile, in a meeting on December 10th, Vanke,
once China's second-biggest property developer,
pleaded with its creditors for an extra year to repay a bond that will soon fall due.
The Vanke meeting is another sign that China's property slump,
the source of much economic trouble, is far from over.
But the conference in Beijing suggested that China's leaders have other things on their minds.
One of their preoccupations is technological self-reliance.
By that yardstick, the past year has been a success.
DeepSeek, an artificial-intelligence firm based in entrepreneurial Zhejiang province,
has shown that China can compete with America's best models despite constraints on its computing power.
And ten years after the launch of its "Made in China 2025" initiative,
the country comfortably exceeded its goals for localising electric-vehicle-making and the renewable-energy industry.
Where China is not self-reliant it has also become more secure.
It has turned its dominance in rare earths—critical elements
used in powerful magnets and other manufacturing components—into an effective economic weapon.