China’s ‘two sessions’ delivers core message on Xi Jinping’s central role

Robert Lawrence Kuhn says the key takeaway from China’s annual NPC and CPPCC meetings could not be clearer – that Xi Jinping’s status as core leader and the country’s core principles of governance are non-negotiable

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Robert Lawrence Kuhn

Published: 3:35pm, 17 Mar 2017Updated: 7:14pm, 17 Mar 2017

There is now no ambiguity: China is under the firm leadership of the party’s Central Committee, with Xi as its core. Illustration: Craig Stephens

The “two sessions” in Beijing – the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – offer some sense and insight about China’s governance. Attending them this year, I have come away with several impressions.

One is the conjunction of two ways of thinking that Westerners would deem incompatible: stricter conformity and enforcement of political orthodoxy, and greater freedom and encouragement to critique government programmes. To understand China’s system of governance, especially under President Xi Jinping (習近平), now the “core” of the Chinese Communist Party, is to appreciate why these two ways of thinking are deemed complementary, not contradictory. China’s leadership recognises that it needs the wisdom of society, especially the expertise of the intellectual elite, to critique and improve government, but the concern is that such criticism could be destabilising. Hence the political controls to enable the criticism.

China watchers scrutinise everything going on here – work reports, press conferences, policy announcements, personnel moves, sideline comments, even seating arrangements. Which policies are stressed? What signals are sent? Any surprises? What’s “in the air”?

The many things China doesn’t want: highlights from Li Keqiang’s press conference

Listening to Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) give the annual government work report to the nearly 3,000 NPC delegates assembled in the Great Hall of the People, one is struck by the civilisation-state pageantry of China state power and the sheer magnitude of managing this huge country. One must comprehend the country as a whole, integrating political, social, cultural and ecological sectors with the economy. To focus only on the economy is to distort the lens with which to view China.

To the untrained eye, the structure and phrases of work reports look similar to those of previous years. But look closely and one sees the small but revelatory differences.

China’s ruling party prides itself on careful, incremental change, and usually this is the case. But occasionally we catch sharper breaks with past practice. This year, three aspects stand out: reform, innovation and, most significantly, Xi’s leadership.

People walk on a footbridge in the central business district in Beijing. While reform has long been a key feature of the government work reports, the pervasiveness of reform in this year’s report makes it special. Photo: EPA