China’s take on parliamentary democracy kicked off its annual session Saturday to address national priorities at a time of slowing economic growth. Unlike legislatures elsewhere, China’s does little in the way of legislating, is carefully stage-managed and allows no foreign leader to address it.
But like such chambers of power elsewhere, China’s has become something of a billionaire’s club, where the super-rich sit shoulder-to-shoulder with colorfully adorned Tibetan, Mongolian and other minority delegates and members of the country’s vast bureaucracy. The delegates are selected through an indirect voting system that ensures those approved by the party leadership get elected.
Delegates listen to a speech during the opening session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Thursday, March 3, 2016. The more than 2,000 members of China’s top legislative advisory body convened their annual meeting Thursday, kicking off a political high season that will continue with the opening of the national congress on Saturday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
In this Saturday, March 5, 2016 photo, delegates read the work report during the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Unlike legislatures elsewhere, China does little in the way of legislating, is carefully stage-managed and allows no foreign leader to address it. But like such chambers of power elsewhere, China has become something of a billionaire’s club, where the super-rich sit shoulder-to-shoulder with colorfully adorned Tibetan, Mongolian and other minority delegates and members of the country’s vast bureaucracy. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A Chinese usher holds back a curtain during a plenary session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Here is a look at the National People’s Congress, which runs through March 16:
SOME TALK, LITTLE ACTION
China firmly rejects Western political notions of separation of powers, so challenging the leadership or questioning its decisions are not part of the somewhat nebulous mandate for the NPC’s nearly 3,000 delegates. Nor does it draft or seriously challenge the government’s budget proposals, instead discussing the various speeches and reports in small groups before voting to approve whatever measures put before it at the close of the roughly two-week session.
The exercise is not entirely without merit, however, since members gain a better understanding of the government’s priorities and can also channel up to the leadership some of their grassroots concerns.
The vast majority of the NPC’s legislative work is handled by its 171-member Standing Committee, which meets every two months to discuss and pass laws and is more firmly under control of the ruling Communist Party. The full body only occasionally votes on legislation considered especially significant, notably the 2005 anti-succession law aimed at Taiwan. Even among the laws that reach the Standing Committee, most are fairly prosaic, with the truly crucial matters of state handled directly by the party’s paramount Politburo Standing Committee.
In this Thursday, March 3, 2016 photo, Chinese hostesses, who serve the delegates of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference pose for photographs outside the Great Hall of the People during the opening session of the CPPCC in Beijing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A National People’s Congress (NPC) delegate from Tibet wears pins depicting five current and former Chinese leaders, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, as he leaves the Great Hall of the People following the opening session of the NPC in Beijing, Saturday, March 5, 2016. Along with their traditional robes, Tibetan delegates to the annual meeting of Chinaís ceremonial parliament are sporting unique lapel pins displaying their loyalty to the Beijing leadership at a time of simmering tensions in their Himalayan homeland. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Protest flyers thrown by petitioners are tossed up over the traffic lights at a junction near Tiananmen Square during a plenary session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Monday, March 7, 2016. Thousands of delegates from across the country are in the Chinese capital to attend the annual National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
POMP AND REPRESSION
The NPC strictly proceeds along well established lines, beginning on its first day with the premier’s work report, a kind of State-of-the-Nation address that reviews achievements of the previous year and sets out the new year’s goals and priorities. Focused heavily on the economy and public services, the report is pulled together by a committee based on submissions from major government departments. Considerable lobbying precedes the premier’s 90-minute speech, since a mention of one’s pet project can be touted as a high-level endorsement.
The time around the meeting is usually a dismal period for China’s embattled dissident community, which may be confined to their homes or taken on out-of-town trips in the constant presence of state security agents. Security is ratcheted up nationwide, but especially in Beijing, where out-of-town petitioners are cleared out and paramilitary guards are posted throughout city. Saturday’s opening session at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing was swathed in multiple layers of security, starting with bag checks in the subway and an additional checkpoint just to look onto the square.
In this Thursday, March 3, 2016 photo, a soldier dressed as an usher stands guard at an entrance door of the Great Hall of the People, where the opening session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is held, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
In this Saturday, March 5, 2016 photo, Chinese policemen walk with sniffer dogs near the Great Hall of the People where the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) is held in Beijing. Security during the meeting is ratcheted up nationwide, but especially in Beijing, where out of town petitioners are cleared out and paramilitary guards are posted throughout city. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
NO ROOM FOR OUTSIDERS
Although Chinese President Xi Jinping has grown fond of addressing his host country’s elected assemblies during overseas trips, the NPC doesn’t afford the same honor. Partly, that’s because of limited availability, with the full congress meeting just once a year, but also because of its rigid structure that brooks no outside interference. Foreign guests may observe from the gallery, but only the premier and other top Chinese leaders are allowed to address the assembly. The most a visiting leader can hope for is a speech at one of China’s top universities.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is displayed on a large screen during the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Saturday, March 5, 2016. China’s leadership tried to quell anxiety about its slowing economy following financial turmoil and rising labor unrest as it cut its growth target Saturday and promised to open oil and telecoms industries to private competitors in sweeping industrial reforms. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
BILLIONAIRE’S CLUB
The NPC includes many of China’s wealthiest citizens, with more than 100 billionaires by some estimates. The real number isn’t known since delegates are under no obligation to declare their assets, and wealth in China is often hidden. However, observers who run the numbers say the top 10 richest delegates are worth around $184 billion, about 100 times the wealth of the 10 richest American members of Congress. Membership confers both status and access to policy-makers who can help grease the wheels of commerce.
While the NPC’s membership originally was drawn from government officials, workers and farmers, former President Jiang Zemin opened it up more than a decade ago to China’s newly rich. That’s given it a reputation as the world’s wealthiest parliament, more likely to draw comparisons to the annual Davos gathering than any true elected assembly. That may seem at odds with the Communist Party’s original mandate of seeking capitalism’s downfall. Yet they’re not so far opposed as it may seem, since many of those fortunes were made in the post-Mao reform era during which the party oversaw the transfer of vast land holdings and other public assets into private hands.
Below is a selection of China’s Conclave coverage from AP photographers Ng Han Guan, Andy Wong, and Mark Schiefelbein.
A Chinese camera operator records a press conference by Xu Shaoshi, director of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, in Beijing, Sunday, March 6, 2016. China’s top economic planning official Xu says any prediction that China’s economy should have a hard landing is doomed to fail, and he assures the world that China will continue to contribute to, rather than to hurt, the global economy. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A Chinese television journalist films a report inside the Great Hall of the People during the opening session of China’s annual National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Saturday, March 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Chinese security guards sit with their hands on their legs as Zhang Dejiang, National People’s Congress Chairman delivers a work report at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Delegates walk into the hall to attend the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Saturday, March 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A Chinese military band conductor leads the band at the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Saturday, March 5, 2016.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Chinese security personnel stand guard near the Tibet room in the Great Hall of the People during the Tibetan province delegation meeting held as part of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, Monday, March 7, 2016. Tibet’s governor said Monday that a second railway being planned to the Tibetan capital will help bring improvements to the Himalayan region. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Delegates read a work report delivered by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Saturday, March 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, left and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrive for the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Saturday, March 5, 2016.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Thursday, March 3, 2016 photo, attendants prepare to fill glasses for delegates before the opening session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Thursday, March 3, 2016. The more than 2,000 members of China’s top legislative advisory body convened their annual meeting Thursday, kicking off a political high season. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Padma Choling, chairman of the Tibetan Autonomous Region’s people’s congress standing committee bites his glasses during the Tibetan province delegation meeting held as part of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Monday, March 7, 2016. Tibet’s governor said Monday that a second railway to the Tibetan capital will help bring improvements to the Himalayan region. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, left, chats with Assistant Minister Xu Hongcai at a news conference during the annual meeting of Chinaís legislature in Beijing, Monday, March 7, 2016. Lou says Beijing is expanding deficit spending to prevent a slide in growth and support its efforts to overhaul its cooling economy. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A worker chats with his colleague behind a curtain next to a mural depicting Tibet on display in the Tibet room in the Great Hall of the People during the Tibetan province delegation meeting held as part of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, Monday, March 7, 2016. Tibet’s governor said Monday that a second railway being planned to the Tibetan capital will help bring improvements to the Himalayan region. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Chinese hostesses, who serve the delegates of the National People’s Congress, jump as they pose for photographs on Tiananmen Square during a plenary session of the National People’s Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Hostesses, who facilitated the arrival of delegates by bus, hold a sign for the Jingxi Hotel as they pose for a group photo during a plenary session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Delegates leave the Great Hall of the People after attending a session ahead of the opening of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Friday, March 4, 2016. The political conclave comes as China’s leaders are being tested by new challenges including an economy that has slowed to a 25-year low, global uncertainty over the country’s tumultuous stock markets and currency movements, and tensions over the South China Sea. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
In this Thursday, March 3, 2016, file photo, a female journalist wears a virtual reality headgear as she poses for photographers outside the Great Hall of the People where opening session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was held in Beijing. The more than 2,000 members of China’s top legislative advisory body convened their annual meeting Thursday. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) military delegate takes a photo on the steps of the Great Hall of the People after a plenary session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing Wednesday, March 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Hostesses, who facilitated the arrival of delegates by bus, cross a street near the Great Hall of the People during the opening session of China’s annual National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Saturday, March 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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