welcome to our trove of PRC policy: where it's from, where it's shifting and who it impacts

The Two Sessions' huge scale generated endless stories: what was said, what was not said, and what can be read between or under the lines. International media took an interest in a number of noticeable silences. On reviewing the Sessions overall messaging, what strongly comes through is legitimacy-signalling of professional competence. 

The plenary session of the 14th CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) National Committee starting 4 March 2023 is, as ever, a set piece—the second of the annual Two Sessions. Formally a channel of ‘deliberative democracy', the CPPCC was memorably derided by one of its former chairs as a ‘talk-shop’.

Beijing released a ‘Global Security Initiative Concept Paper’ on 21 February, a year after its first mention by General Secretary Xi Jinping 习近平. Officially unpacked at last, the initiative drew immediate dismissal from some international observers as a ‘nothingburger’. Hailed by foreign minister Qin Gang 秦刚 as the 'bible for PRC foreign policy’, the GSI will have consequences for the PRC geopolitical agenda, hence qualifies as a ‘somethingburger’. 

The opening of Beijing's legislative ritual season is just a few days away. Much of it may be dismissed as just that—ritual that papers over debate and conflict, long done and dusted, with outcomes that need only an appropriate roll of drums. As the first such fixtures following the 20th Party Congress of 2022, they will set the scene for a 5-year term defined by the extended supremacy of General Secretary Xi Jinping.