China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) will discuss a plan to reform institutions within the State Council or the Cabinet and review proposed amendments to the Law on Legislation, an NPC spokesman said on Saturday.
The annual session of China’s legislature, which will open on Sunday and end on the morning of March 13, will also review a series of reports, including the premier’s government’s work report, parliament spokesman Wang Chao told a news conference.
The nearly 3,000 members of the largely rubber-stamp parliament will additionally elect and support a new line-up of top government officials to be led by a new prime minister for the next five years.
Xi Jinping is widely expected to secure his third five-year term as president. This week he renewed calls for an “intensive” reorganization of state and Communist Party entities, adding that part of the reform plan relating to state institutions would be submitted to parliament.
The call for institutional reforms comes after China’s economy grew by 3% last year, one of the weakest paces in nearly half a century – weakened by strict COVID-19 restrictions imposed by Xi that were lifted in December.
The Prime Minister’s Government Work Report will reveal the official economic growth target for 2023, in addition to many other social and economic targets.
The gross domestic product target could be as high as 6%, compared with the 4.5% to 5.5% proposed in November, sources told Reuters this week.
This year’s parliamentary session will also further review amendments to China’s Legislative Act, which regulates how laws are passed. One proposed amendment allows the NPC Standing Committee to pass laws in an “emergency situation” after a single review.
The committee, which makes and amends laws when parliament is not in session, voted to pass Hong Kong’s landmark national security laws in June 2020. This law was submitted for a vote after two rounds of discussion.
