National People's Congress of China: Five-Year Plan, COVID Investigation, and An Affront on Hong Kong?
by Angelica Dadda
The image portrays the closing meeting of the 13th annual National People’s Congress (NPC) session in the Great Hall of the People [1].
Think the U.S. legislative branch is quite large with over 535 members? Well, the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliamentary body, has over 3,000 delegates elected simultaneously with 5 year terms. That’s quite impressive, especially with the fact that they all convene to meet together at Beijing's Great Hall of the People once a year.
China’s annual parliamentary session, the National People’s Congress (NPC), officially commenced on March 5th for the 2021 session and lasted over seven days. It took place at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People; this massive state building was built for legislative and ceremonial activities and is known as the political hub of Beijing.
In addition to being the world’s largest body of legislature, China’s NPC is referred to as a ‘rubber stamp legislature’ for the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) [2].
What exactly is a rubber stamp legislature?
A rubber stamp legislature is a dictator party’s legislature where orders that are endorsed are just formalities that are already expected to be legalized or established; it creates a superficial appearance of dictatorial harmony and a façade of a democratic legislative. In other words, such policy would be enacted without the legislature. It is mostly for public relations.
The CCP, as the dominant, ruling party, uses the annual NPC sessions to serve as a high-profile political event to announce major policy moves and establishments of long-term plans [2].
Economic Proposals & Plans
With the COVID-19 pandemic, many nations’ economies have faced severe hits and experienced an overall decline in their economic status; one nation that has managed to overcome and actually face an economic growth during these times was China. In fact, China experienced an overall 2.3% economic growth in 2020. It is slower than previous years and slow for an emerging economy. However, it is growth nevertheless.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) target for 2021, as set at the NPC, is to be over 6% in 2021. Not to mention, the nation has suffered due to a massive unemployment and loss of urban jobs due to COVID-19 which caused supply chain disruptions and rising labor costs. As a result to combat these issues, the NPC have set job creation as a top economic priority, aiming to create over 11 million new urban jobs in 2021.
In addition, the NPC has endorsed a five-year development plan, yet again formulated by the CCP, that hopes to make the nation more self-reliant in developing key technologies and reduce dependence on other nations, such as the U.S. and Europe. In addition, this plan aims to boost domestic consumption and reduce economic reliance on exports of lower quality goods [3].
How has COVID impacted the NPC?
Premier Li, the current head of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, has stated that Beijing will continue to cooperate with the World Health Organization (WHO) to determine the origins of SARS-CoV-2. As popularly known, the SARS-CoV-2 was initially suspected to have first emerged from Wuhan, China in late 2019. However, the source of the first outbreak is yet to officially be determined as there are claims that the virus did not actually originate in Wuhan.
In addition, Premier Li responds to U.S. criticism of Chinese authorities lacking transparency regarding sharing data on the virus and criticism of hiding the severity of the initial outbreak and silencing those who attempted to spread information, or also known as whistle-blowers, within the country, stating that China has acted in a transparent and cooperation manner with investigations [2].
This annual’s NPC has officially endorsed the CCP measure for Hong Kong to give the pro-Beijing committee the power to appoint lawmakers in the Hong Kong territory; this measure adds a restraint against Hong Kong’s pro-democratic movement and ensures that Hong Kong’s public officials are loyal patriots to the CCP, removing political opposition to their party [2].
To preface, the people of Hong Kong have wanted to gain independence from China for several years now, and the two nations have a multitude of cultural and economic differences between them that fuel their tension. Hong Kong has established itself as a democratic nation in opposition to the CCP, providing another reason for their fight for independence. Moreover, technically, Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, not yet independent. An agreement has allowed Hong Kong to become its own independent system set apart from China till the year 2047; after, it is uncertain what is to come for Hong Kong.
In 2019, a pro-democratic movement erupted to respond to a previous extradition bill ro mainland China; this specific proposal has erupted the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests that was shouted out by various news sources.
These endorsed acts aren’t the only instance of the Chinese government attempts of suppressing the pro-democratic Hong Kong territory. In the previous annual NPC session, the CCP introduced a controversial national security law pertaining to Hong Kong; it criminalized acts that Beijing considers to be sedition, subversion, or collusion with foreign powers. Despite receiving international condemnation as an attack of civil liberties, this law has managed to arrest 47 Hong Kong legislators and pro-democracy figures due to subversion charges [2].
Increased Military Spending
Guaranteed for every annual session, the 2021 NPC session emphasizes the announcement of the 2021 defense budget of China; it has been announced to be 1.36 trillion yuan (which is translated to about $209.16 billion), which poses a 6.8 percent increase from the previous year’s budget. This new adjustment to China’s defense budget aims to safeguard national sovereignty, secure development interests, fulfill responsibilities, and meet military reform needs. With the increase of China’s military spending, this also raises international concern regarding the increased risk of conflict as China gains more military power and threat. Due to the disproportionate annual increase of China’s military spending surpassing its annual GDP growth, this hints at China’s interest and prioritization of military power compared to previous years [4].
With the conclusion of the 2021 annual National People’s Congress of China, the Chinese Communist Party was able to establish many of their plans and laws endorsed by the NPC. In addition, they have set an increase in their GDP target and enforce plans to promote their economic growth, aiming for higher employment and availability of jobs; as well, China has increased its annual military and defense budget, hinting at its interest in increasing its military power. Most importantly, the CCP measure to promote pro-Beijing committees in the Hong Kong government is considered a strike towards the pro-democratic Hong Kong government in attempts to suppress their political power and emphasize the CCP presence in Hong Kong.
Sources:
The National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China. (n.d.). China’s top legislature holds closing meeting of annual session. http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/c23934/202103/a4fe6a31d3bf40c286585df38c567631.shtml
DW. (n.d.). China’s 2021 National People’s Congress: Key Takeaways. https://www.dw.com/en/chinas-2021-national-peoples-congress-key-takeaways/a-56835907
Zhou, Q. (2021, March 8). China’s Two Sessions 2021: GDP Target, Tax Incentives, and 14th Five Year Plan. https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-two-sessions-2021-gdp-target-tax-incentives-and-14th-five-year-plan/
Glaser, B. S., Funaiole, M. P., Chan, B., & Hart, B. (2021, March 5). Understanding China’s 2021 Defense Budget. https://www.csis.org/analysis/understanding-chinas-2021-defense-budget