Chinese parliament likely to ignore citizens’ calls to investigate coronavirus
- National People’s Congress due to meet on Friday after two-month delay due to pandemic
- Discussions expected to follow official line that defeating Covid-19 was a great victory and model for the world
This is the second in a nine-part series examining the issues Chinese leaders face as they gather for their annual “two sessions” of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference this week.
Activists, Covid-19 survivors and scholars have called for an investigation into the handling of the outbreak ahead of the country’s biggest political gathering of the year.
This year, efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic and repair the economic damage it caused will dominate discussions at the ‘two sessions’, but the leadership is unlikely to respond to calls for an inquiry.
The annual session of the country’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, will begin on Friday – more than two months later than scheduled.
Its political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress, meets a day earlier.
Over four million people have been infected and more than 310,000 have died worldwide from the disease, with growing numbers at home and abroad calling for an investigation into its origins and demanding that officials be held accountable.