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Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) converses with Premier Li Qiang on the first day of a weeklong meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 4, 2024.
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."