The National People's Congress (NPC) is China's legislature, which started its session on March 5. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is China's political advisory body, whose National Committee began its annual session on March 4. Delegates to the CPPCC join the delegates to the NPC when the NPC is in session.
This year, the “two sessions” (NPC and CPPCC) aim to implement the policy guidelines adopted at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in October last year in legislative and government departments, outline a new growth blueprint after the zero-Covid policy was ended, and brief the world on China's stance on international issues. Following the once-a-decade Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October last year, new leaders will be appointed to posts in the Chinese government at the current NPC session. President Xi Jinping is expected to be appointment to a third presidential term, and Li Qiang to become the new Premier.
The legislature (NPC) and political advisory body (National Committee of the CPPCC) will get new Chairpersons at this year's sessions. Zhao Leji, the No 3 in the Communist Party, is expected to replace Li Zhanshu at the head of the NPC, while Wang Huning will replace Wang Yang to lead the CPPCC National Committee. Besides the new Premier Li Qiang, new Vice Premiers, State Councilors, Ministers and the President of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) will be appointed.
An overhaul of state institutions is also expected to be announced, especially in the finance and technology sectors.
In an international survey on the two sessions, 20.06% of the respondents said that China’s GDP growth was the most anticipated topic, followed by business and trade (16.66%), science-tech innovation (15.2%), environment (13.70%), politics (11.58%) and foreign policy (10.5%). A total of 8,290 people participated in the survey, organized by the China Daily and 10 overseas media organizations. Among respondents, 51.02% said they have high confidence in China’s growth. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased its forecast for China’s economic growth to 5.2% in 2023 in its World Economic Outlook report. The updated number was 0.8 percentage point higher than the October forecast.
