China’s annual Two Sessions meetings begin this week, with thousands of political and community delegates arriving in Beijing from across mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to ratify legislation, personnel changes and the budget during about two weeks of highly choreographed meetings.
What are the Two Sessions?
The event is called Two Sessions because both the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) hold their annual meetings separately, but at the same time. The CPPCC is an advisory body, with little real political influence, but it often considers some innovative proposals for issues such as China’s demographic crisis. Its members include business executives, celebrities and celebrities who previously included the likes of actor Jackie Chan and basketball player Yao Ming. The 3,000-member NPC is the legislative body of the Chinese Communist Party, but it is largely a “rubber stamp” parliament, having never rejected a bill brought before it.
What happens at the Two Sessions meetings?
The meetings include “work report” speeches from the prime minister and sometimes, but not always, speeches from Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping. Official economic objectives are set, military budgets are announced and changes in the ranks of the party’s leading bodies are confirmed.
The Two Sessions meeting has hosted enormously significant policy changes in the past. In 2023, Xi’s precedent-breaking third term as leader was formalized. In 2020, the NPC revealed plans for the national security law currently in force in Hong Kong.
What is different about this year’s Two Sessions?
This year the focus will be on the 15th five-year plan, Beijing’s economic planning document for 2026-2030.
The key points of the plan were revealed last year, when senior PCC officials reviewed it in draft form. Highlights include boosting domestic demand and developing China’s capacity in cutting-edge technologies, particularly nuclear fusion, quantum technology and artificial intelligence. Although China has reached an uneasy truce with the United States in a trade war that threatened to upend the global economy, Beijing is focused on reducing China’s economic dependence on the United States in the future.
This year’s Two Sessions are also taking place in the shadow of a major restructuring in the ruling body of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). In January, Xi placed his top general under investigation for suspicion of corruption and disloyalty, a purge that followed the ouster of several other military and defense figures in recent months.
The sessions are attended by a large crowd of foreign media, many of whom fly in to attend the meeting and have a rare opportunity to interact with CCP officials in person. In 2024, the prime minister’s annual press conference was abruptly canceled without explanation, closing one of the already limited forums for transparency.
