China is expected to reveal new political controls over Hong Kong at this week’s parliamentary meeting, which is also expected to show President Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power.
Beijing plans to ensure that only “patriots” – supporters of the Communist Party – can rule Hong Kong, according to a speech by a senior Chinese official before the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC).
The meeting serves as an important showcase for changes in power and policies within China’s opaque one-party system, although the thousands of delegates have little to say about the laws they pass and the discussions are largely political theater.
The national security law, which has been used to muzzle Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, was announced at last year’s NPC.
That session was postponed from the usual early March date, as China struggled to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, the NPC and its advisory body will meet on schedule – albeit for fewer days than usual – and promote an official narrative of Coronavirus triumph and economic success.
To a large extent, China has managed to contain Covid-19 within its borders, through strict blockades and controls by international travelers. She has developed her own vaccines, which she is using as part of a global diplomatic push to increase her influence.
He was also one of the few countries in the world to officially register economic growth in 2020 and recently claimed to have ended “extreme poverty” at home.
But Beijing’s domestic triumphs come at a time of increasing pressure from Western powers over internal authoritarian policies, such as dealing with the early days of the pandemic and subsequent investigations into the origins of Covid-19 and its aggressively expansionist behavior in disputed regions, bordering territories. and to Taiwan.
Diplomatic and trade sanctions have been applied to Beijing because of its intervention in Hong Kong and human rights abuses in western Xinjiang. The authorities also raised concerns about repressions and mass arrests of domestic lawyers.
This is likely to be compounded only by any new policies in Hong Kong revealed at this year’s NPC.
In a speech published this week, the head of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Xia Baolong, said the city’s electoral system had to be “improved” to close loopholes and ensure “comprehensive management of Hong Kong’s central government. Kong ”.
Unfamiliar government sources told the media that the changes are likely to upset the election process for the city’s Legislative Council and the composition of the committee to elect the city’s leader, known as the chief executive.
The committee currently includes district councilors, most from pro-democracy parties who won an overwhelming victory in the November 2019 elections.. The signaled changes have caused concern even among some pro-Beijing politicians.
“Don’t go too far and kill the patient,” Shiu Sin-por, a pro-Beijing politician and former head of the Hong Kong Central Policy Unit, told reporters after a briefing session on the subject.
The “two sessions” are also being closely watched for details on how President Xi Jinping, already considered the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, cemented his personal power and place in the communist pantheon.
“The most important significance of the two sessions for China’s political life may be to observe the consolidation of Xi’s rights, the totalitarianism of Chinese politics and China’s reaction to surrounding issues and the security environment,” said Wu Qiang, a former – political lecturer at the prestigious Beijing Tsinghua University.
They come at a time of great focus on the legacy, as Beijing prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in July, although no major announcement is expected.
“It’s not that anything is going to choke us collectively, but it’s important because it gives you a sense of leadership priorities and the language they’re using … and how much Xi is being raised even more in rhetoric,” said the law professor Margaret Lewis, China specialist at Seton Hall.
The most watched part of the agenda is usually the GDP growth target report, but none were released in 2020 and sources told Reuters there would be none this year.
The NPC will, however, witness the launch of the 14th “five-year plan”, which outlines the medium-term agenda of the national economy. The summaries released after the planning sessions in October indicated a focus on trying to replace lost international trade with rising domestic demand – although the government has tried to stimulate domestic consumption for years with mixed success.
While China faces a social and economic crisis with an aging population, government officials have already signaled plans for a new pension system, which could be announced, along with possible delays in the legal retirement age.
Raising the retirement age was a necessary but politically risky move that threatened to upset the party’s support base among retired party officials and staff, said Fordham University law professor Carl Mizner.
“They’ve been kicking that can for a few years,” he told the Guardian. “They face urgent financial pressures and they need to face them … But it is politically difficult in China, as much as anywhere else.”
The eyes will also be focused on the presence of China’s technology industry elite at their first meeting, since the authorities tightened regulation and began to pursue monopolistic behavior.
Xi also made great environmental promises and state officials promised amendments to animal protection laws after the ban on illegal consumption of wild animals.