This year's NPC session opens on Monday. Chinese President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has been a regular participant in panel discussions at previous annual sessions.

In the past five years, Xi has attended more than 30 NPC and CPPCC panel discussions, talking with representatives from different walks of life, officials from various levels of the government, as well as those from the People's Liberation Army. The discussions focused on various issues, such as reforms, party building, the economy, people's livelihood, national solidarity, poverty alleviation, and cross-strait relations. He's made many notable statements during these panel discussions. He once said, in his words, "We have to take targeted measures in the whole process of poverty alleviation." He also said "We should protect our national solidarity in the same way that we protect our eyes."