China legislature meets to set tone for global role in post-pandemic world

Thousands of delegates to China’s legislature will gather in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday as the ruling Communist Party battles to meet the social and economic targets set before the coronavirus pandemic led to the country’s first economic contraction in decades.

The annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference were themselves delayed from their usual date in March for the first time in more than two decades as the Covid-19 disease spread.

The meetings, known as the “two sessions”, are mostly rubber stamp affairs which Beijing uses to make public its yearly economic agenda, growth targets, and national budget. The challenges to China’s economy were described as “unprecedented” in the party’s April Politburo meeting.

This year’s meetings take place against the backdrop of an international backlash to Beijing’s handling of the disease outbreak that started in the central China city of Wuhan. Other governments are demanding more information about the origins of the epidemic and calling for an international investigation.

Relations with the US have hit a low point not seen in decades and diplomatic courtesies have been replaced by a blunt blame game about the cause of the disease and threats of retaliation.