Commentary
When Chinese leader Xi Jinping speaks, observers around the world listen for clues about what to expect from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the coming months and years. Sifting through the Xi-speak associated with the “Two Sessions” requires ignoring all the fluff and cliches that are routinely echoed by the state-run Chinese media, to get to the core concerns and issues that matter most to the communists.
The “Two Sessions” refers to the perfunctory annual sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the national committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). This year’s sessions were the 14th in the dreary series. Perfunctory? Yes, indeed, as they are both rubber-stamping bodies deployed to show to Chinese citizens and the world that the Chinese communists practice “democracy with Chinese characteristics.”…