Xi Jinping: China’s president of precedents and new norms, but at what cost?

SINGAPORE: A signature event will be conspicuously missing when China’s most important annual political meetings come to a close on Monday (Mar 11) — Premier Li Qiang will not be speaking to the press.

Since 1993, the premier’s press conference has capped the two sessions, allowing international media a rare chance to put questions to one of China’s senior leaders. 

The premier is usually ranked second or at least third in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) apex Politburo Standing Committee.

Also, the press event offers the outside world a window into the leader’s priorities and personality.

But three decades of tradition have been upended with Monday’s announcement that the meet-the-press session would be scrapped this year and likely till 2027.

While the move came as a surprise, it’s but the latest in a series of precedent-breaking steps taken under President Xi Jinping’s watch since he emerged as China’s supremo in 2012.

As Mr Xi — who heads the CCP, the military and the state — rewrites China’s rulebook, analysts say a consolidation of power is among the key objectives.

“The trajectory of Xi overseeing everything is now the norm,” political scientist Chong Ja Ian at the National University of Singapore (NUS) told CNA.

This state of play — where power is centralised under Mr Xi — is a double-edged sword, China scholars note. While it means Mr Xi can move at speed and mobilise government resources to tackle issues he deems important, it could also diminish initiative at other levels of government in resolving problems.

Topping the list of norm-shattering actions was Mr Xi formally being handed a historic third presidential term at last year’s two sessions, cementing his status as China’s most powerful leader since Mao