For this session, observers are not anticipating drastic policies. Instead, expectations are for a scaling up of existing reform measures.
As China battles economic headwinds on many fronts, including the ongoing property crisis, analysts believe the leadership may not want to rock the boat too much.
“The key words would be consistency and stability for this session because China is now in an uphill battle, dealing with economic development and also global pressure,” said Dr Liu Baocheng, director of the University of International Business and Economics’ Center for International Business Ethics.
“To keep the central leadership of Xi Jinping and on top of that, push more of the leadership of the Communist Party at different institutions, would be the desired outcome of this meeting,” he added.
Policymakers are banking on the development of new and cutting-edge technologies to drive growth. Experts said this includes biotechnology, green energy, artificial intelligence and the aerospace industry.
This marks a shift from its old growth model that relied on real estate and infrastructure, which raises questions over how much support China's property sector will receive.
Measures so far have failed to revive the crisis-hit sector, with latest home price data still logging a decline.
EXPECTATIONS FOR REFORMS
The world’s second-biggest economy is also grappling with a declining population, shrinking labour force, and weakened business confidence.
While China is expected to hit its growth target of around five per cent this year, economists say Chinese policymakers need to ramp up structural changes to focus on long-term economic policy.
They have been calling on the central government to cover more expenses, as localities are saddled with debt made worse by the property crisis.
Trump was hit in the ear and left with a bloodied face by the attack, which also killed a bystander while two other people were wounded, but he managed to raise a defiant fist to the crowd as Secret Service agents bundled him away.
He landed later Sunday in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, where he will be anointed as the party's presidential nominee, with supporters believing the attack will swing voters behind him in November.
The US Secret Service insisted the agency is "fully prepared" to maintain security at the huge Republican gathering, and that it was not changing its protocols even after the attempt to kill Trump.
But the agency faces searching questions about how the shooter was able to climb onto a rooftop around 150m from where Trump was speaking and fire multiple rounds.
The FBI was "looking at it as a potential domestic terrorism act," the bureau's assistant director of counterterrorism Robert Wells said.
The shooter's father was believed to have bought the semi-automatic weapon used in the attack but it was unclear how the shooter accessed it. Investigators also found a "suspicious device" in the shooter's car.
Shapiro called Saturday's shooting, in which Trump was bloodied but survived and two other spectators were wounded, "shocking, for this Commonwealth (state) and the country".
The other victims were identified as David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, according to Pennsylvania State Police on Sunday.
Both were also from Pennsylvania and said to be "in stable condition".
At the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, some Filipino fishermen – including Mr Freddie Legaspi – have continued fishing there despite China’s new regulation threatening to detain maritime trespassers.
Both the Philippines and China lay claim to Scarborough Shoal, a chain of reefs and rocks famed for its rich waters and marine resources.
A landmark 2016 ruling on the South China Sea by an arbitral tribunal convened under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China's blockade of the shoal violated international law. The court noted that the area was a traditional fishing ground for several countries.
But China has ignored the judgement.
"Sometimes, when we are near Scarborough, we are shooed away by the China coast guard, so we are forced to travel further,” Mr Legaspi told CNA.
“We're somewhat worried now because of China's new trespass rule. But our fish aggregating device is near Scarborough, so we need to go there.”
Such a device, which is used to attract fish, can cost at least US$1,300. They usually consist of buoys or floats tethered to the ocean floor.
It is considered a steep investment for local fisherfolk and boat owners, who refuse to abandon such devices out at sea despite possible run-ins with China’s coast guard.
In late June, the engine on the boat that Mr Legaspi was on exploded 17 nautical miles southwest of Scarborough. He suffered second-degree burns, but had to wait two hours before he was rescued.
The Philippine coast guard has accused China's coast guard of initially blocking its rescue mission that was heading to help the crew.
Mr Legaspi's wife, Laurence, is worried about the medical costs for his burn injuries.
“It's better if the government has funds for accidents at sea faced by fisherfolk,” she said.
“Many of us rely on fishing as our main source of living. I hope the government continues to patrol Scarborough.”
Investigators are now trying to figure out what drove the shooter, with the FBI saying it believed that Crooks acted alone and had no known ideology.
"We are investigating this as an assassination attempt, but also looking at it as a potential domestic terrorism act," Robert Wells, assistant director of the FBI counterterrorism division, told reporters.
The FBI said the AR-style 556 rifle was believed to have been bought by the shooter's father, but do not yet know how he accessed the weapon or whether he took it without his father's knowledge.
Investigators also found a "suspicious device" in the shooter's car that was inspected by bomb technicians, while they are searching his phone for hints to his motive.
"BULLIED"
Crooks' former schoolmates described him as a quiet student who often came across as lonely.
"He was quiet but he was just bullied. He was bullied so much," Jason Kohler, who said he attended the same high school as Crooks, told reporters.
Biden meanwhile praised the victim, named as firefighter Corey Comperatore, saying he "was protecting his family from the bullets".
The attempt on Trump's life sent shock waves around the world, but the effects on a tight US presidential race in a deeply divided country are uncertain.
Analysts said that in the absence of hard facts from authorities and the media, fake news and misleading claims will rush in to fill the gap.
“There’s a large number of conspiracy theorists in the US and conspiratorial thinking has gone mainstream. Trump himself has encouraged some of this thinking over the years,” said Reilly.
“Unfortunately, this is the tenor of the times that we're in. The internet and social media have a lot to do with this. But as more details come out about the gunman, some of those conspiracies will die down.”
COULD THIS CHANGE GUN LAWS?
Gun control laws are already a contentious issue in the presidential race. Biden has firmed up legislation and wants to ban assault weapons, while Trump says he will unravel all of that if he is back in power.
Analysts said they believe the incident is unlikely to convince the Republicans to embrace stricter gun laws.
“It would be naive to say that there’s no tradition of political violence at all in the US … we just don’t think of (it) as happening very much in the modern era,” said Neiheisel.
“This is an issue that is perpetually a problem in the US and it doesn’t tend to be one that has an easy resolution,” he added.
Reilly, however, pointed out that high-profile incidents in history have led to successful reforms of gun laws. For instance, a dozen firearm Bills were introduced in the wake of the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy, the US' 35th president.
He added that Trump, who up until now has been opposed to restrictions on gun laws, could have a change of heart, having been a victim himself and surviving a gunshot by a whisker.
“We’ll have to see … what having a near-death experience does to a man like Trump,” he said.
The first batch went on sale on Taobao, a popular Chinese e-commerce platform, at 8.40pm – before most governments around the world had scrambled together a response.
That is China’s speed.
Li Jinwei, a 25-year-old Taobao seller, had her T-shirts on her online shelves by breakfast time in China.
“We put the T-shirts on Taobao as soon as we saw the news about the shooting, though we hadn’t even printed them, and within three hours we saw more than 2,000 orders from both China and the US,” she said.
Taobao is owned by Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post.
A defiant Donald Trump is rushed offstage by secret service following the shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Photo: EPA-EFE
Li’s factory is based in the northern province of Hebei, and to create new products, she simply downloads an image and presses print, with the factory taking an average of one minute to finish a T-shirt.
“For this year’s US presidential election, we only made souvenirs of Trump, as he has a higher chance of winning the election, and he is popular among Chinese netizens,” Li said.
Demand for “election- and rally-themed” custom T-shirts is quite strong in the US market, according to Guangdong-based Allen Yao, co-founder of Xinflying Digital Printing Production.
Earlier this year, Yao opened a fully automated factory in California, with a daily production capacity of around 3,000 T-shirts, a total that is expected to increase to 8,000 by next month.
“The T-shirts are imported from Vietnam and stored in US warehouses, and the production speed is very fast,” Yao said.
A digital printing machine could print 27 square metres (290 sq ft), or about eight election-related T-shirts, in an hour and these could be immediately put on the shelves for sale in California, he added.
“Demand is so strong, and we just can’t produce enough.”
The company plans to open a new factory on the US east coast next year, increasing daily production capacity to 30,000 items.
A Taobao page showing clothing printed with images from after the shooting. Photo: Taobao
Data from DHgate, a Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform focusing on the US market, shows that since January, the transaction volume of election-related souvenirs had grown by more than 40 per cent every month, with month-on-month growth rate in March exceeding 110 per cent.
The total transaction value of US election souvenirs in the first quarter was up more than 90 per cent in the same period last year, Shanghai-based media outlet Yicai reported in May, citing data from DHgate.
For other manufacturers, the prospect of a Trump win goes beyond T-shirts and souvenirs – Chinese exporters are starting to front-load shipments for fear of further tariff increases.
This was partly reflected in data for June exports, which rose 8.6 per cent year on year in US dollar terms, while producer price index and new export orders slumped during the same period.
Chinese home goods exporter Sam Xiao said his company in Texas had asked its China headquarters to immediately order and ship products to fill their warehouses before the end of the year.
“Many exporters are discussing the need to ship goods before the election to cope with potential cascading changes ahead, like possible tariff hikes and skyrocketing shipping costs,” he said.
Gao Zhendong, a Beijing-based supply chain specialist helping Chinese firms to invest globally, said the increase in exports would not be great because the Chinese supply chain had already made adjustments over the past six to seven years, and the Biden administration had largely continued the tariff policies of the Trump years.
But a Trump win would affect supply chains.
“Most exporters feel that this unexpected event has significantly increased Trump’s chances of winning,” Gao said.
“If Trump wins, tariffs on the ‘new three’ products [photovoltaics, lithium-ion batteries and new energy vehicles], iron and aluminium products will be significantly raised.
“Furthermore, it also implies that related supply chains in Vietnam and Mexico could be negatively impacted, as Trump has consistently criticised Vietnam and Mexico as ‘re-export havens’ for Chinese production.”
Chinese imports, however, were unlikely to drop further, Gao added.
“The volume of trade between China and the United States has significantly decreased in recent years and has stabilised. There is limited room to reduce Chinese imports further because any attempt by the US government to decrease Chinese imports further will be constrained by US inflationary pressures.”
