The Two Sessions, the annual, concurrent meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), is underway in Beijing. The event is significant because China uses it to set various objectives for the country as well as to appoint officials to various senior-level roles, such as Foreign Affairs Minister. Below are some of the most notable events that occurred on March 9th.
March 9th
NPC
The NPC delegation discussed the revised version of the draft Organic Law of the State Council and discussed the Supreme People’s Court’s and Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s work reports.
Press Conference
Housing and Urban-Rural Development Minister Ni Hong, Human Resources and Social Security Minister Wang Xiaoping, Education Minister Huai Jinpeng, and National Disease Control and Prevention Administration Wang Hesheng held a press conference on people’s livelihoods.
Specifically, Ni said that there is still significant growth potential in China’s real estate market, even with the ongoing challenge of stabilizing the sector. Furthermore, he said that the market should be viewed from a medium- to long-term investment outlook instead of a short-term outlook. Ni also touched on measures China could use to ensure a “stable and healthy development of the real estate sector.” He pointed out that the country could stabilize the sector by emphasizing “focusing on stabilizing the market through the use of city-specific policies, defusing risks,” and promoting the sector’s transformation.
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General and Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman He Weidong made comments about rooting out “false combat capabilities” in the military. He made the comment during the first plenary meeting of the PLA and People’s Armed Police (PAP) delegation on March 5th.
However, the comment was absent from any of the official news articles that covered Tuesday’s meeting. He made calls for the delegation to maintain the PLA’s honorable tradition through promoting political training, discipline, and anti-corruption in the military. Furthermore, He also urged the delegates to achieve qualitative breakthroughs in combat capabilities and to promote the PLA’s high quality development through the consolidation and expansion of the PLA’s traditional combat power. He also mentioned innovation and the development of new quality, organic joint combat capabilities.
His comment likely indicates that the CMC and Xi are worried concerning the various news articles that shed light on various issues related to the weapon systems the PLA operates. Furthermore, it also indicates the level of concern that the PLA has regarding its weapons procurement process due to the organization responsible for it, the CMC’s Equipment Development Department, being notoriously corrupt. He’s comment may also indicate the PLA’s worry over units continuing to use fake or Soviet-style training programs instead of training that U.S. or western militaries use. There were several PLA Daily articles that discussed how units still relied on the “fake” training style instead of using realistic training. The three issues—weapon system issues, corruption in the procurement process, and continued use of Soviet-style training programs—would have the most negative effect on the PLA’s combat capabilities and its ability to fight and win wars.
The PLA and PAP delegation also held a second plenary meeting with CMC Vice Chairman and PLA General Zhang Youxia, and CMC members Liu Zhenli, Miao Hua, and Zhang Shengmin attended, with He presiding over it. Fifteen delegates from various commands, ranging from the CMC’s Joint Operations Command Center, the National Defense Mobilization System, and the CMC’s Discipline Inspection Commission, across the PLA and the PAP delivered speeches during the meeting.
The delegates talked about enhancing joint combat capabilities, increasing national defense science and technology innovation, and promoting the application of results in emerging fields. They also discussed other topics such as the optimization of methods for developing new quality equipment capabilities, improving the quality of reserve force formation and development, and increasing “grassroots training and preparation for war.”
People’s Liberation Army Navy Chief Petty Officer Li Pu, an NPC member for the PLA delegation, submitted a proposal to improve the protections for services provided to military families. Li is a squad leader for the sonar section of the CNS Taiyuan, a Type-052D/Luyang-III class destroyer. The reason for her proposal related to increasing protections is due to the “feedback” she received to determine what the main worries and concerns are in the unit. Li submitted the proposal based on receiving “feedback” from her unit’s officers and soldiers regarding the worries and concerns they may have.
Northern Theater Command General Hospital’s Head Nurse of Cadre Ward and NPC delegate Gao Rui presented two proposals for consideration. Her first proposal called for the “optimization of the recruitment and introduction of talent measures.” The proposal also specified that the optimization reflect the incentivized orientation of “excellent talent, excellent treatment, excellent performance, and excellent awards.” Gao submitted the proposal because she understood the need to enhance the training content that civilian workers go through to make the training relevant to their duties.
She also submitted the proposal as a means to decrease the number of talented and experienced personnel that leave the PLA. Her other proposal calls for the improvement of the training process for upgrading the capabilities of civilian personnel in the Joint Logistics Support Force (JSLF). Gao experienced the issues that her proposals aimed to solve from her personal experience leading a JSLF nurse squad in Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, she also talked about her experience training civilian personnel in various fields who recently joined the JSLF.
CPPCC
Fu Zhiguan, a CPPCC member and Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League Central Committee’s Vice Chairman, gave a speech about Taiwan and the cross-strait situation. Fu said that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cannot represent the island or its inhabitants since the “prevailing public sentiment” in Taiwan is opposed to “Taiwan independence.” Fu highlighted that the sentiment on the island is in favor of “peace over war, development over decline, communication over estrangement and cooperation over confrontation.” He criticized the DPP’s provocative tricks to seek and achieve “Taiwan independence,” which cannot change “the status and fact that Taiwan is part of China.”
Fu also said that the tricks cannot change the direction of the development of cross-strait relations and “cannot stop the inevitable trend of national reunification.” He put forth three recommendations that include advancing economic and trade cooperation through increasing the land, sea, and air transportation infrastructure to better connect the island with the mainland; facilitating connections between Taiwan and China through energy, funds, resource, talent, and technology ties by adopting mutual industry standards, qualifications, and inspection; and continuing to optimize the business environment by encouraging enterprises on both sides of the strait to develop a unified market.
CPPCC member and China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD) Commissioner Huang Zhen gave a speech during the conference’s third plenary session. In his speech, Huang discussed how China gained a comparative advantage in green and low carbon (dual carbon) energy industries that allowed the country to increase its energy production. However, he also pointed out that China still faces significant issues related to energy use, such as being the largest energy consumer and its continued reliance on fossil fuels. Huang pointed out that there is legislation that would address climate change and promote the realization of the dual-carbon goal. He further stated that the legal system does not give any comprehensive consideration to the work of carbon peak and neutrality that is required to support laws and regulations.
Huang said that “achieving carbon neutrality is not only a matter of emission reduction, but also a major strategic choice related to future high quality development and security.” He then put forth three recommendations that would help Chian achieve carbon neutrality. The three recommendations are to: develop a high level plan to address climate change, realize the goal of carbon neutrality, and do a good job of legislating and amending the law; speed up the creation of specialized and relevant legislation and regulations to address climate change and carbon neutrality; and increase the speed at which China will revise the existing laws and norms, such as the Environmental Protection Law, Resource Law, and Electricity Law; the Renewable Energy Law; the Cleaner Production Promotion Law; and other laws.
Muyasser Tohuti, a CPPCC member, gave a speech pointing out that, due to the new situation, China needs to consolidate its existing good experiences and practices to explore a more tangible and sensible form of cultural and tourism integration to increase national unity in Xinjiang. Tohuti, who is also Vice President of the Xinjiang Art Institute and an actress, outlined three recommendations that China could implement to solve the integration issues in Xinjiang.
Her first recommendation is to “deeply explore the cultural and tourism resources” to cultivate and strengthen the roots of unity and progress. She pointed out that the government could amplify the “effect of cultural and tourism resources in the promotion of national unity” by using archaeological objects and cultural heritage of the exchange of the region’s ethnic groups so “that Chinese culture is fully displayed.”
The second recommendation Tohuti outlined is to give cultural connotations to tourism in Xinjiang to develop a solid “soul of national unity and progress.” Make use of other provinces providing aid to Xinjiang to “promote inter-provincial exchanges of people, industrial cooperation, improvement of people’s livelihoods and spiritual communications.” She also recommended that authorities organize and use the region’s literature and art, cultural heritage, cultural relics, and other objects to conduct friendly exchanges to promote Xinjiang’s beauty and national unity.
Her third recommendation is to highlight the presentation of images and symbols to promote national unity and progress. Furthermore, she said to excavate and organize “Chinese cultural symbols in Xinjiang, and integrate Chinese cultural symbols shared by all ethnic groups.” She said the region should use the image of the Chinese nation in promoting Xinjiang’s culture and history, including the building of public cultural, urban, and tourist sites and landmarks to promote high quality two-way culture and tourism. Tohuti recommended promoting visual presentations such as movies and music to let the “outside world understand Xinjiang.” She also said that the promotion would also allow all ethnic groups to increase their recognition of Chinese culture and strengthen the “cohesion and centripetal force of the Chinese nation in a silent matter.”
CPPCC Standing Committee member and Overseas Chinese Historical Society of China Sui Jun outlined three recommendations to increase the overseas Chinese role in Chinese-style modernization. Sui started her speech by saying that Chinese-style modernization has achieved great accomplishments and that there are still bright prospects for the concept. According to Sui, Chinese-style modernization significantly “enhanced the pride and self-confidence of the returned overseas Chinese and overseas compatriots.” She also said the accomplishments also revitalized the overseas Chinese community’s spirit of unity and struggle.
Sui hoped that most of the overseas Chinese would continue “to uphold the fine tradition of patriotism and love for their hometowns and families” and “contribute their wisdom and strength to the realization of Chinese-style modernization.” She then gave her three recommendations, which are to “give full play to emotional and cultural advantages and be a firm supporter of Chinese-style modernization,” use their skills and connections to their fullest when being an active participant in Chinese-style modernization, and use all capital and industry advantages to be a significant promoter of Chinese-style modernization.