[Editor’s Introduction: Beginning on March 3rd, Beijing hosted the 2009 sessions of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC.) Although the agendas of this year's NPC and CPPCC were relatively light and did not include important personnel changes or important legal matters, they were accompanied by several noteworthy developments, summarized below.]
March 2:
Economic growth has taken center stage ahead of this year’s NPC and CPPCC. Premier Wen Jiabao has touted his government’s four-trillion-yuan economic stimulus plan and the so-called "double ten" program designed to increase domestic demand. Hong Kong’s official Zhonguo Tongxun She reports that Wen said he believes Beijing’s target of 8 percent economic growth for this year remains “attainable.” Three economic questions will dominate the two sessions: How should China balance social stability, rapid economic growth, and improve the livelihood of average people? When will the stock market – in which many older Chinese have invested their savings – begin to rise? Online polls conducted by several large websites this year showed that anti-corruption also remains one of the questions most concerning to Chinese people. Wen responded to “netizens” whose impact on society and political development has grown markedly, by calling for a focus on “an honest and clean government.”
March 3:
A "tidal wave of petitioners" has hit Beijing during the NPC and CPPCC, Hong Kong’s Ming Pao reports. Thousands of disenchanted Chinese from around the country have reconstituted the famous "Petitioners' Village" leading to the deployment of police vehicles, armed police, and plainclothes security personnel. Thousands of petitioners pushed past them, however, and swarmed the Office for Letters and Calls of the State Council, the NPC Office for Letters and Calls, and the Office for Letters and Calls of the Supreme People's Court to lodge their complaints. Provincial authorities have also deployed cadres to Beijing to intercept petitioners before they can voice their grievances to the central government. The top complaints include housing and land disputes, pension-related issues, and official and police corruption. Most petitioners have visited the capital two or three times and spent between five and ten years in search of redress.
Due to the global financial crisis, this year’s NPC and the CPPCC are required to be "economical and environmentally-friendly" and maintain "a zero increase in expenditures," Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po reports. Beijing has taken several measures to reduce costs including cutting this year’s sessions from 11 days to 9 days, capping dining expenses for participants at 100 yuan ($14.60) a day, and requiring them to live in hotels rated four stars or lower. In addition, organizers have designated several hotels in Beijing to reduce transportation expenses and called for electronic proposals rather than paper ones to reduce waste.
March 4:
In advance of the annual meeting of the NPC, Beijing has announced a 15 percent increase in military spending to 480.7 billion yuan, up 62.5 billion yuan from 2008. This increase comes after a 17.8 percent increase and a 17.6 percent increase in 2007 and 2006, respectively. The U.S. has long claimed that real spending is far higher, since many costs, including arms purchases, are kept off the official budget. China, for instance, is upgrading its nuclear arsenal and is building an aircraft carrier, but it is unclear whether these costs are included. According to Li Zhaoxing, the former foreign minister and current NPC spokesman, "There is no such thing as the so-called hidden military expenditure." Li said the budget increase would improve soldiers’ living standards and "informatization" of the military, London’s Telegraph reports.
March 9:
Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC, in a speech stressed the "essential differences" between China's people's congresses and “Western capitalist countries'” system of political power. Wu noted that in China "the core" is to uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China. "China's system of political parties is a system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), not a Western-style multiparty system," he said. China must draw on the achievements of all cultures, including their political achievements, but shall "never simply copy the system of Western countries or introduce a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation, a system with the separation of the three powers or a bicameral system," Wu said in comments carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.