China's political elite gathered in Beijing on Thursday as President Xi Jinping unveiled a sweeping roadmap for the country’s economic and political future, delivered against a backdrop of sharpening tech competition with Washington and mounting geopolitical friction. The National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp legislature, rolled out its Five-Year Plan outlining goals for growth, budgets, industrial policy and defence - signalling Xi’s determination to propel the world’s second-biggest economy toward technological dominance.