On Monday, Beijing scrapped a closing press conference for its annual “Two Sessions” meeting of its rubber-stamp parliament, pausing a three-decade long annual tradition for China’s premier (the No. 2 guy). That means the foreign press will lose a rare chance to speak to Premier Li Qiang, one of China’s most powerful people.
But it also robs Li himself of a platform that other Chinese leaders have used to build their own brands. Li’s predecessor, Li Keqiang, earned himself the moniker “the people’s premier” after he railed against pervasive rural poverty during the 2020 Two Sessions presser.
The opacity reflects what Eurasia Group called "Maximum Xi” in its top risks report last year, as President Xi Jinping reacts to increasing challenges by centralizing his power even more.
"Under Maximum Xi, what Li Qiang might have said in the closing presser wouldn't matter anyway,” says Lauren Gloudeman, a China expert at Eurasia Group. “He was only going to say what was approved."
Iran’s regime has survived the war, but ordinary Iranians are still living with fear, repression, and a collapsing economy. Yeganeh Torbati joins Ian Bremmer to explain what comes next for the people inside Iran.
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US President Donald Trump said he would grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot air-defense missiles during the NATO meeting in Turkey on Wednesday, fulfilling a longstanding request from Kyiv.
The Senate trial of Vice President Sara Duterte has turned a family feud into a fight over the Philippines’ political future — and its place between the US and China.