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Beijing announced on Monday that China’s prime minister would no longer hold a press conference after the annual National People’s Congress meeting, ending a three-decade practice that had provided journalists with an extremely rare opportunity to interact with China’s top leaders.
The decision, announced a day before this year’s legislative conclave opens, is for many observers a sign of the country’s growing opacity, despite the government’s declared commitment to greater transparency and a business-friendly environment.
It also reinforces the way China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has consolidated power by relegating all other officials, including the prime minister – the country’s No. 2 person responsible for overseeing government ministries – to less visible roles. Li Qiang, China’s current prime minister, is generally believed to have been promoted to the post last year because of his loyalty to Xi Jinping.
“Unless there are special circumstances, the prime minister’s press conference will not be held in the next few years after this year’s Legislative Council,” Legislature spokesman Lou Qinjian said at a press conference about this year’s Legislative Council.
Lou Jiwei did not disclose details about the decision, saying only that more question-and-answer sessions would be held with lower-level officials.
On Chinese social media, censorship agencies are closely monitoring discussions about the change. Comments sections on many official news reports were closed. On the popular platform Weibo, a search for the hashtag “There will be no prime minister’s press conference after the closing ceremony of this year’s legislative session” (the language used in the official report) returned the error message: “Sorry, this content cannot be published.” show. “
Since 1993, China’s prime minister has hosted a press conference at the end of the annual legislative session, known as the National People’s Congress. Although answers rarely deviate from the official line, it is a rare opportunity for journalists, including foreign correspondents, to put questions directly to the top leader.
At past meetings, reporters have asked the prime minister about issues ranging from vegetable prices in Beijing to alleged human rights abuses and the possibility of direct elections. In 2012, then-Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao held a three-hour press conference; reporters asked about Tibetan self-immolations in protest of Chinese rule and the political scandal plaguing Bo Xilai, the party secretary of a major city.
Bo Xilai was removed from office the next day, later charged with bribery and sentenced.
Chinese officials see these exchanges as evidence of China’s growing openness.
“Journalists always raise sensitive, difficult questions, and the prime minister always addresses them with confidence, wisdom and humor,” read a 2018 post on social media from the Legislature’s official account. The Prime Minister’s press conference “has become an important window to observe China’s openness and transparency.” Through it, countries around the world can feel the pulse of contemporary China’s reform, opening up and democratic political development. “
But since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he has tightened his control over news and speech. Even conventional data on the economy – the centerpiece of the prime minister’s portfolio – has become increasingly limited, especially as China’s growth has slowed in recent years.
The prime minister’s press conferences have also become increasingly scripted. Questions from reporters have already been censored in advance, but the space for asking sensitive questions has been reduced.
The role of the prime minister himself has also been greatly weakened. Li Keqiang, Xi Jinping’s first prime minister, is seen as relatively liberal and advocates giving markets a greater role in the economy. In 2020, as China was touting its success in eradicating poverty, Li Keqiang made headlines when he described the plight of China’s poor in unusually harsh terms. At the annual press conference that year, he said that there were still 600 million people whose income was “not even enough to rent a room in a medium-sized city in China.”
But Li Keqiang’s influence has waned during his decade as prime minister as Xi Jinping promoted aides considered more loyal to him and emphasized security and ideology over economic growth. The current prime minister, Li Qiang, a former aide to Xi Jinping, replaced Li Keqiang in March last year. Li Keqiang died of a heart attack in October.
After last year’s 19th National Congress, Li Qiang expressed support for the private sector at a press conference, his first and likely last in office, as he expressed his support for China’s economic recovery from three years of coronavirus restrictions. Feel worried. But he often nods to Xi Jinping but rarely provides specific details.
In the year since, Li Keqiang has largely kept a lower profile than his predecessor. According to state media reports, he attended fewer international meetings and flew on chartered flights – rather than the special planes that former prime ministers usually use for senior officials.
Neil Thomas, a China politics fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said canceling the press conference would further undermine the prime minister’s popularity. Thomas said this “helps solidify the idea that there is no alternative to Xi Jinping’s leadership”.
Keith Bradsher contribution reporting, and Li You and Siyi Zhao Contributed research.
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