GPPE05.Chinese politics in 2024: Indications from the ‘Two Sessions’ - Google Docs

T o decipher the trends, apart from the six m ain reports2 r ead o ut and passed a t the N PC, i t is w orth paying attention to the subjects h ighlighted and remarks made by C CP l eaders when they meet the delegations t o the NPC a nd CPPCC (these a re largely b ased on p rovincial representation, but a lso include military a nd sectoral delegations). [...] 2 These are t he P remier’s Government Work Report; the National D evelopment and Reform Commission’s report o n the p lans for n ational economic and social d evelopment; the Ministry of F inance’s budget report; the S upreme P eople’s Court report; the Supreme P eople’s procurate report; and t he NPC Standing Committee r eport on the work of the NPC. [...] But noticeably the first of the f our m ain a spects 3 of t he revisions read: T he primary political r equirement f or amending the Organic Law of t he State Council is to m ake i t clear that the State C ouncil adheres to t he leadership of the C ommunist Party of C hina and that the guiding i deology o f the p arty and the country, especially Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Charact. [...] 7 The m ain issues of 2 024 as seen from the preoccupations of leaders at the NPC The future of the economy is always a preoccupation of the ‘Two Sessions’. [...] ‘High-quality d evelopment’ r equires innovation, and to ‘deepen the reform of the science a nd technology system, the education system, a nd the talent system, and break through the blockages that restrict the development of new productive forces’.1 0 Their importance was reflected b y the fi rst two of the ten ‘ key tasks’ for 2 024 f ocussing on these a reas.