China’s plan to resume annual parliamentary sessions delayed by the coronavirus outbreak next month could be seen as a statement of the country’s commitment to get back to normal. The actual gathering may end up showing how much has changed.
The National People’s Congress will start its annual session May 22, the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday, citing a decision by the body’s Standing Committee. The initial state media reports, which also said the advisory Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference planned to meet May 21, made no mention of the length or format of the sessions.
Still, the pandemic has upended the usual pageantry of the National People’s Congress, in which 3,000 deputies — and thousands more officials, political advisers and journalists — crowd into Beijing meeting halls for two weeks. The virus has turned the platform for projecting power into a dangerous infection risk for Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top Communist Party leaders.