My first 'two sessions': Collective focus more inspiring than partisan noise

Editor's note: Ankit Prasad is a biz commentator and an editor with CGTN. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

China's annual national "two sessions" concluded on Tuesday afternoon, marked by the closing of the third session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature. The third session of China's top political advisory body, the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), had ended a day earlier on Monday.

The week-long event, my first glimpse of the two sessions from on-ground in Beijing, presented a valuable first-hand experience of a governance system that has undoubtedly proven to be highly effective and transformative over the last few decades. Having tracked minute-to-minute developments taking place at the Great Hall of the People, it's easy to see why.

There were numerous notable features of the two sessions that were eyeopeners. The first and most breathtaking is the sheer size of the Great Hall's main auditorium. The cavernous location for the main sittings of the two bodies is a venue befitting of the monumental decisions that are made and announced there. The various camera angles do an exemplary job of showcasing the sheer scale of the meeting, easily accommodating the thousands of delegates and members who gather in the capital from different corners of China. As an enthusiast and admirer of the physical and architectural manifestations of national legislatures and assemblies, I believe the gravitas of the Great Hall of the People and the solemn sincerity of the meetings held there are worthy of high praise.

That's not to say, however, that the main auditorium was the only venue of import. While the headline event of the week - Premier Li Qiang's tabling of the government work report - took place there, other locations also played their part in ensuring the two sessions were able to adequately involve, via the media and the meetings' participants, the vast population of China and global audiences. These are the corridor meetings, press conferences, and smaller deliberations that took place between localized working groups.

The corridor briefings presented an opportunity for the people to get to know the CPPCC members and NPC deputies, of which there are many. Each has a different story, either from their rich experience in specific domains or via the area they represent. The first corridor meeting involved highly qualified and well spoken members of the CPPCC who gave an account of their work over the past year and enthusiastically answered questions posed by the media on myriad topics, from healthcare to tourism and from agriculture to DeepSeek. That set the tone for the remainder of the two sessions, with questions being posed and answers being given in a constructive spirit.

The fact that the CPPCC National Committee also has numerous top business leaders as members, including founders and top executives of private enterprises, shows the body's calibre and empowered nature. They may not be able to make laws, but the CPPCC members' qualifications and accomplishments dictate that their proposals be taken seriously, and in some cases, they have the independent influence to make tremendous impact on their own.

The press conferences, meanwhile, were a great avenue for government ministers to present a cogent and pragmatic picture of various aspects of China's development. The press conference on economy featured the ministers of finance and commerce, the head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the governor of the People's Bank of China and the head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, all on the same platform answering over a dozen questions in candid detail. The eminence of the assembled panel showed the seriousness of the press conference, with each answer, remark and policy hint capable of having ripple effects in China and beyond. Similarly, the foreign policy press conference featuring Foreign Minister Wang Yi was effective in taking on all questions during a tricky period in geopolitics and presenting China's view of the world. Likewise, the press conference on people's living standards was sincere and sensible about the practical challenges of providing jobs to millions of youngsters entering the workforce.

As for the deliberations by the CPPCC members and especially the NPC deputies, the involvement of top government leaders who routinely attended the meetings to provide policy direction would have brought confidence and succour to all concerned. It was, in short, a structured, economically and socially inclusive, and multi-stakeholder approach to holding a meeting on development planning.

And that brings me to my main takeaway from the two sessions. Right from Premier Li announcing the 5 percent GDP growth target for 2025 amid a challenging global scenario, to the final corridor meeting that took place on Tuesday just after the NPC session's end where the minister of China's General Administration of Sport spoke about building a sporting powerhouse by 2035, the two sessions seemed profoundly serious about focusing on the economy and high-quality development.

After years of following national and provincial legislatures up close, the two sessions was a refreshing change for its single-minded pursuit of all-round holistic progress. There was none of the side-business of obstructionism, disruption, filibustering, opposition for opposition's sake, or political grandstanding or brinkmanship. Neither was there so much of a hint of jingoistic bullishness, ill-discipline or warped logic. At the same time, there was no shirking from either questions or ground-realities. Both the NPC and CPPCC came together to set aspirational targets and vowed to work earnestly, with all sectors, regions and groups, to achieve them. And in today's uncertain times, that itself deserves a few rounds of "hear, hear!"