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Beijing – This year, China’s National People’s Congress resumed its annual in-person session without many of the restrictions that have been in place since the pandemic began. No more bubbles, multiple COVID-19 tests or social distancing.
Officials say China is back up and running, but in reality meetings have become more tightly scripted to convey Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s message, leaving little room for the spontaneity and open engagement that was offered before COVID-19. .
Both sessions lasted just a week — half their pre-pandemic length. Delegates no longer mingle with reporters at public meetings as they did a few years ago. In some cases, journalists were barred from approaching officials.
This year, officials broke with three decades of tradition and said they would no longer host the prime minister’s press conference, eliminating an annual opportunity for reporters to ask questions of China’s top leader.
The changes reflect only a small part of China’s transformation under its most powerful leader in decades, Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping has eliminated term limits, weeded out rivals and appointed a group of loyalists to run the country. As his power has consolidated, the space for press freedom has shrunk dramatically, leading many Chinese journalists to quit the industry.
“This is part of an overall tightening of accessibility levels that is reflected in everything else that’s going on,” said Mike Chinoy, former CNN bureau chief in Beijing.
While the Two Sessions have always been somewhat staged, in the past they have allowed journalists and politicians to interact directly, a rare opportunity for outsiders to gain insight into China’s tightly controlled political system.
Journalists smoked cigarettes and joked with delegates at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Foreign media loudly asked off-the-cuff questions, even on sensitive topics.
Richard McGregor, a former China correspondent for the Financial Times, said, “For many years, it has been a unique China forum, with few opportunities for foreign reporters or even local reporters to ask impromptu questions to government officials.” , usually at a press conference. “You can also stop officers and surprisingly, they often get involved.”
Even in recent years, journalists have pressed China’s provincial leaders on sensitive issues. In 2018, a Wall Street Journal reporter asked Tibet’s top official about a Tibetan who set himself on fire to protest Beijing’s rule. In 2019, Sky News reporters asked Xinjiang officials about the massive internment camps targeting the region’s native Uyghurs. In response, Xinjiang’s then-governor Shekleti Zakir made headlines when he said the government’s so-called “education and training centers” would shrink and eventually disappear.
Press conferences hosted by provincial leaders disappeared during the epidemic. This year, they have recovered but without the thorny issues of the past. Instead, reporters ask how Tibet plans to encourage tourism, or how Xinjiang will promote economic development next year.
Although reporters were told the meeting was an “open” Q&A session, questions were pre-screened. At this year’s Tibet press conference, a state media reporter who raised her hand several times but was not named said she had to ask questions in advance.
Those who tried to raise issues outside of the script were banned or even treated harshly. At a news conference last week on the economy and government policy, security personnel moved quickly to pull down a Chinese journalist who stepped onto the podium at the end of a formal question-and-answer session, apparently to ask a question. Video of her attempt went viral.
Chinese journalists who have covered past legislative sessions said that while China has long censored questions before press conferences, the practice has increased in intensity.
A few decades ago, Chinese journalists could ask any question they wanted. But over the years, the situation has grown to the point where officials are asking them to ask questions, said Rose Luqiu, a prominent journalist who formerly worked for state broadcaster Phoenix TV. The result, she says, is highly stage-managed.
“You will feel that these reporters are like actors, and the overall format becomes a public relations display,” Minqiu said.
China’s State Council Information Office, which handles media questions on behalf of the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
These events were not always so tightly controlled.
Jiang Zemin and other former leaders have been interviewed by foreign media and discussed Tibet and the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on “60 Minutes,” an American television program known for its investigative reporting.
Chinoy, former Beijing bureau chief of CNN, said that before this, foreign reporters were able to question former Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang.
“He took the issue without anyone reviewing it,” Chinoy said. He asked his secretary about Tibet, which had experienced violent riots in September 1987.
“I heard the party line,” he said of Zhao’s response. But he said he hasn’t had such unrestricted communication since.
In contrast, Xi Jinping has not answered questions from American reporters in nearly a decade. At this year’s streamlined meeting, no critical questions were asked, but instead praise – even for Beijing’s decision to cancel the prime minister’s news conference.
“The government’s cancellation of this press conference is in line with our country’s pursuit of a more frugal lifestyle,” Huang Chunqiu, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, said, nodding enthusiastically. “Everyone must be diligent and thrifty, and in the new year we must unite and forge ahead to create a better life together.”
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