Comments on China's 2020 ＂Two Sessions＂

Chikeung Li

《Tamkang Journal of International Affairs》 24卷1期 (2020/07) Pp. 165-175

https://doi.org/10.6185/TJIA.V.202007_24(1).0005

摘要

Due to the impact of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, China's National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (hereinafter referred to as the two sessions) were postponed from the beginning of March to May 21- 22 in Beijing this year. The Government Work Report (hereinafter referred to as the report) of the Premier Li Keqiang was only about 9,500 words, which was greatly reduced from 15,000 to 20,000 words in previous years. It was also the shortest government work report since China's reform and opening up. The report mentioned a lot about the new coronary pneumonia, and positioned the epidemic as ＂the public health incident that has experienced the fastest spread, the widest range of infections, and the most difficult prevention and control since the founding of New China＂. The report also emphasized that the prevention and control of the epidemic was led by the President Xi Jinping's ＂personal command and personal deployment＂ underlined Xi's leadership. Even though European countries and the United States criticized the performance of China and the World Health Organization in dealing with the epidemic, the report did not make any direct response. The report said, ＂China is actively engaged in international cooperation, in an open, transparent and responsible manner. China would timely report the epidemic situation information, actively share the epidemic prevention technology and practices, help each other, and jointly fight against the epidemic.＂ However, the report also acknowledged the deficiencies of China's epidemic prevention, such as ＂in the prevention and control of the epidemic, public health emergency management has exposed many weaknesses, the masses still have some opinions and suggestions that should be paid attention to.＂ For the future economic development of China, the report described it as full of ＂unprecedented＂ risks and challenges. This harsh wording has never appeared in any previous government work reports.