The Chinese Communist Party’s two sessions are being held amidst internal and external challenges. Recently, on social media in mainland China, there has been widespread discussion about a list of more than ten key issues related to people’s livelihoods. The public has expressed that these issues have persisted for a long time. Although these livelihood issues are brought up by the public almost every year during the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC), the NPC deputies do not truly represent the people. Furthermore, these problems are created under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party and will not be resolved by the Party.
In a video circulating on social media, a summary of the top ten-plus livelihood issues and suggestions most voiced by the people in mainland China is outlined:
1. Increase in people’s wages;
2. Ensure food safety: strictly regulate campus food, especially prohibiting pre-made meals on campus;
3. Severe punishment for corrupt officials;
4. Optimize the allocation of medical resources: promote the distribution of high-quality medical resources to grassroots levels, allowing people in remote areas to access high-quality medical services, alleviating the issue of difficulty in seeking medical treatment;
5. Enhance education equity construction, narrowing the urban-rural and regional education gap, providing more educational support for rural and impoverished area students, such as free lunches, after-school tutoring, etc.
6. Improve the elderly care service system, increase community elderly care facilities, cultivate professional elderly care personnel, enabling the elderly to enjoy a satisfying life;
7. Promote stable employment and support entrepreneurship, providing more employment and entrepreneurial policy incentives for key groups such as college graduates, migrant workers, etc.;
8. Accelerate the construction of affordable housing: increase the supply of affordable housing, stabilize housing prices, enabling more people to meet their housing needs;
9. Strengthen environmental protection efforts: strictly supervise industrial pollution emissions, enhance the protection of water resources such as rivers and lakes;
10. Improve rural infrastructure levels; upgrade roads, water, electricity, internet, etc.
11. Rural healthcare, increase the reimbursement ratio for regular medical expenses, lower the threshold for special medical expenses reimbursement;
12. Campus safety, promptly improve policies regarding campus violence, dealing strictly with bullying incidents in schools.
13. Rural elderly care, promptly introduce a retirement system for rural elderly care, as farmers are a vulnerable group;
14. Treatment of foreign students: abolish specification treatment for foreign students in certain provinces and cities, all students must adhere to the principles of fairness, justice, and openness, avoiding special treatment;
15. Company properties, issue policies regarding the management of company properties, strictly regulate property management fees and standards.
However, after sparking discussions on social media platforms, the above-mentioned video was quickly removed.
Currently, on social media platforms like Weibo, discussions about the two sessions are heavily censored by the Chinese Communist Party. The views available to netizens predominantly consist of “supportive” posts. The voices of truth and honesty are being suppressed.
The two sessions are often referred to by outsiders as a “rubber stamp” or a “political vase” conference, endorsing various policies of the CCP.
Teng Biao, a part-time lecturer at Hunter College of the City University of New York and a Ph.D. in law from Peking University, previously told Voice of America that some laws related to people’s livelihoods are also passed during the two sessions. However, this doesn’t mean that the NPC deputies truly represent public opinion. The primary objective of the Chinese Communist Party is to maintain political stability, which sometimes requires concessions on certain issues. Therefore, even though some laws with a progressive nature may be enacted, they cannot fundamentally change the nature of the CCP’s dictatorship or the ceremonial nature of the NPC.
Translated and rewritten for educational purposes.