EIJING – President Xi Jinping loomed larger than ever at this year’s Two Sessions, as cadres and officials rallied behind the Chinese leader’s latest modernisation campaign, which promises to transform the economy and make the country a tech superpower.
As the legislature on March 11 passed revisions to a law that will put the Communist Party of China (CPC) over the government, or the State Council, Mr Xi was exalted at every turn, in every meeting and every interview.
The annual meetings of the legislature and the country’s top advisory body, known as the Two Sessions, wrapped up on March 11 after eight days, the shortest duration outside the pandemic years.
Mr Xi was mentioned more times in this year’s government work report – delivered by the Premier at the opening of the legislature’s meeting on March 5 – than in any other year since he was chosen as the general secretary of the CPC in 2012.
Premier Li Qiang, in presenting his maiden work report this year after taking over from the late Li Keqiang, invoked Mr Xi’s name 16 times in less than an hour. By contrast, then Premier Wen Jiabao mentioned him just once in 2013, at Mr Xi’s first Two Sessions as the country’s paramount leader.
Over the past 11 years, Mr Xi’s name has appeared with growing frequency in the work report, the most important policy document setting out the main economic and social development targets for the year.