China Scraps Premier Li's Briefing, Breaking Years of Convention
- Removing event denies No. 2 chance to build public profile
- Comes amid fears over opaque policymaking, economic slowdown
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China’s Li Qiang will become the first premier in three decades to not hold a press briefing at the annual parliamentary meetings, removing a rare platform for investors to learn more about the nation’s policy direction as President Xi Jinping consolidates control over the world’s second-largest economy.
The country’s No. 2 official won’t take questions at the close of the National People’s Congress for the rest of its five-year term apart from in “special circumstances,” official spokesperson Lou Qinjian said at a Monday briefing in Beijing. This cohort of lawmakers is set to gather each year until 2027.