NPC Calendar: March 2024
A preview of China's national legislature's 2024 session
Welcome back to NPC Observer Monthly, a (mostly) monthly newsletter about China’s national legislature: the National People’s Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee (NPCSC).
March starts tomorrow, which means . . . the annual NPC Week™️ is fast approaching. (This Substack acknowledges the existence of only One Session, not Two.) Because the NPC will be the center of global attention starting March 5, I will crosspost all our coverage of the 2024 NPC session on our main site to this Substack. If you’ve subscribed to both and would like to avoid duplicative email notifications, you can go to the settings for this newsletter and deselect “NPC Observer Crossposts.“
For those unfamiliar with our annual NPC coverage, in addition to this routine NPC Calendar post that kicks off the month, you can expect at least one post on March 4 or 5 with the session’s finalized agenda and a daily breakdown of activities during the session; and one post a few days after the session concludes that compiles all official documents from the session.
And for those unfamiliar with the NPC, we have an FAQ about the institution over at our main site, as well as additional introductory materials that dive deeper into certain aspects of the NPC.
If you’re enjoying the newsletter, I hope you’ll consider sharing it. —Changhao
The following post was first published on NPC Observer
The Criminal Law Amendment (XII) [刑法修正案（十二）] (adopted on Dec. 29, 2023) takes effect on March 1.
China's 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) will convene for its second session on Tuesday, March 5. The session’s tentative agenda includes the following items:
Deliberate the Government Work Report;
Deliberate work reports by the NPC Standing Committee, the Supreme People’s Court, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate;
Review a report on the implementation of the 2023 Plan for National Economic and Social Development and on the draft 2024 Plan for National Economic and Social Development; and review the draft 2024 Plan for National Economic and Social Development;
Review a report on the execution of the 2023 Central and Local Budgets and on the draft 2024 Central and Local Budgets; and review the draft 2024 Central and Local Budgets; and
Deliberate a draft revision to the State Council Organic Law [国务院组织法].
On March 4, the NPC session will convene for a preparatory meeting to select members of the Presidium (an ad hoc body of around 170 members that will preside over the session) and to finalize the session’s agenda. The Presidium will then immediately meet to decide on the session’s daily schedule and designate a spokesperson. Shortly thereafter the session is expected to hold its first press conference.
If the NPC is going to fill the vacancies on the State Council and the Central Military Commission created by the removal of Qin Gang and Li Shangfu last year, such an agenda item is expected to be first revealed on March 4, either at the press conference or through the session's agenda and daily schedule.
The NPC’s 2024 session will likely close on March 11, based on a recent notice from the Beijing police on controlling the use of certain low-flying aircraft during the event. All reports and bills submitted for review are expected to be approved on the last day.