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☆ One of China’s Most Talkative Nationalists Suddenly Goes Silent
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-06 | by ( Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One of China’s most influential, and garrulous, nationalist voices on social media has suddenly gone quiet, and the country’s internet is wondering why. But in late July, Mr. Hu stopped updating his page, baffling readers and gratifying some of his critics. Mr. Hu has not explained his silence; nor have China’s internet authorities. But many in China think he has been censored, pointing to signs that party officials may have been irked — paradoxically — because Mr. Hu lauded them in the wrong way. In Mr. Hu’s view, the party used phrasing in its plan for the economy that suggested that China would reduce the status of state-owned companies, giving private companies a big boost.

Persons: Hu Xijin, Hu, Mr, Hu’s Organizations: Global Times, Communist Party, Sina Weibo, Weibo Locations: China

☆ China Shows Few Signs of Tilting Economy Toward Consumers in New Plan
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-21 | by ( Keith Bradsher | Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China engaged in a monthslong drumbeat of anticipation that a Communist Party leaders’ meeting would show the way to a new era of growth for the slowing economy. The outcome was a plan released on Sunday offering more than 300 steps on everything from taxes to religion. Many economists had called for a comprehensive effort to rebalance the Chinese economy away from investment and toward consumer spending. The party promised to “promote the development of strategic industries” in eight sectors, from renewable energy to aerospace. Those were essentially the same industries as in the country’s decade-old Made in China 2025 plan to replace imports of high-tech goods with locally produced products, as part of a national push for self-reliance.

Persons: ’, — Organizations: Communist Party, Communist Party’s Central Committee Locations: China

☆ China’s Leaders Offer High Hopes, but Few Details for Road to Recovery
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-18 | by ( Keith Bradsher | Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, called officials together this week to hammer out ideas to pull the country’s economy out of its doldrums. But if the official summary of the meeting is a guide, Mr. Xi believes he already has many of the answers. His message to the 363 other officials who gathered in Beijing seemed to be: stick with his state-led, tech-focused strategy, only do it better. That is, make it cleaner, more fair and keep a careful eye on national security. China faces “a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation,” said the summary, released by official media on Thursday.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi, Xi’s, ” Organizations: Central Committee Locations: Beijing, China

☆ Taiwan’s Blunt-Talking Leader Faces China’s Backlash
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-16 | by ( Chris Buckley | Amy Chang Chien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Chinese Coast Guard ships have sailed near Taiwan’s outer islands. When Lai Ching-te became Taiwan’s president in May, he vowed to stick with the China policies of his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen. Ms. Tsai sought to avoid confrontation even as she defended Taiwan’s right to self-rule and rejected Beijing’s assertion of sovereignty. Yet Mr. Lai, while keeping Taiwan’s basic policy toward China unchanged, has been blunter in rebuffing its demands. Mr. Lai, who rose as a more plain-spoken politician, sees a need to more sharply lay out Taiwan’s separate status.

Persons: Lai Ching, Tsai Ing, Tsai, Lai, Ms . Tsai, “, ”, David Sacks Organizations: Coast Guard, Council, Foreign Relations Locations: China, Taiwan, Beijing, Taiwan’s, rebuffing, Asia

☆ China Is Holding a Major Meeting on the Economy That You Can’t Watch
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-15 | by ( Chris Buckley | Keith Bradsher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Xi Jinping, China’s leader, and 370 or so other Communist Party officials are meeting in Beijing this week, away from the public eye, to review a plan intended to shake the world’s second-biggest economy out of its malaise. Mr. Xi will sit in the front of a conference hall, most likely in the Jingxi Hotel, a 60-year-old institution with Soviet-style architecture. The party loyalists arrayed before him are near certain to acclaim his plans during the four-day meeting that started Monday and will consider a draft proposal on “further comprehensively deepening reform.”Chinese media have sought to create a buzz around Mr. Xi’s plans, but the real test may come later, as any changes in policy filter through the layers of government. Success or failure will largely turn on whether Mr. Xi is able to win renewed confidence from the Chinese population, as well as foreign investors who have grown disenchanted with his policies. China’s businesses and consumers have suffered in recent years through stumbling growth, a property sector meltdown and a blight of debt among local governments.On Monday morning, China released data that showed a sharp slowdown in economic growth.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi, “, Xi’s Organizations: Communist Party Locations: Beijing, China

☆ What NATO’s Warning to China About Russia Means
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-11 | by ( Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

China’s tight bond with Russia is facing renewed condemnation from Washington and its allies after NATO issued its strongest accusation yet that Chinese technology is sustaining Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Leaders from the NATO alliance, meeting in Washington, declared that Beijing “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history” without facing repercussions. Despite a widening web of Western bans and restrictions, Chinese semiconductors, machine tools and other parts have become vital to Russia’s arms industries, helping Moscow to keep up its grinding war, say American and European officials, intelligence agencies and security experts.

Organizations: NATO Locations: Russia, Washington, Ukraine, Beijing, Europe, Moscow

☆ Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Leader, Meets With Xi in China After Talks With Putin
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-07 | by ( Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary met with China’s leader, Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, courting another authoritarian partner after talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Moscow last week. In announcing Mr. Orban’s visit to Beijing, China’s official Xinhua news agency said only that Mr. Xi would hold an “in-depth discussion with him on issues of mutual interest.” The leaders last met two months ago, when Mr. Xi visited Budapest as part of a drive to restore Chinese influence in Europe. Chinese state television said that Mr. Xi and Mr. Orban were holding talks in the Diaooyutai State Guesthouse, but gave no other details. This meeting will give Mr. Xi and Mr. Orban, an outlier in the European Union on support for Ukraine and other issues, a chance to urge the bloc to distance itself from Washington. Hungary began its six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union this month, giving Mr. Orban a higher profile, though not much more influence, in wider European affairs.

Persons: Viktor Orban, Xi, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Orban’s, Orban Organizations: Xinhua, European Union, of Locations: Hungary, Beijing, Russia, Moscow, Budapest, Europe, Diaooyutai State, Ukraine, Washington, European Union

☆ As China’s Pressure on Taiwan Rises, Departing U.S. Envoy Urges Steady Hand
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-17 | by ( Chris Buckley | Amy Chang Chien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Near the end of three years as the United States’ chief representative in Taiwan, Sandra Oudkirk has some parting advice: Avoid panic about China’s combative language and moves, but don’t grow numb to the risks. Ms. Oudkirk has been Washington’s de facto ambassador to Taiwan over a time when the island democracy has become a crucible of tensions between Washington and Beijing. China claims that Taiwan is its territory and must accept unification, by armed force if leaders in Beijing decide that is necessary. At times, debate among Taiwanese and American politicians, officials and experts has taken on some tension as well, over which mix of tactics — what military purchases, what reassuring or unyielding words to Beijing, what steps with fellow democracies — could best reduce the risks of war. Ms. Oudkirk, who leaves her post in Taipei early next month, suggested that Taiwan and its partners needed to find a steady path, avoiding both hysteria and complacency.

Persons: Sandra Oudkirk, Oudkirk, — Organizations: United States ’ Locations: United States, Taiwan, Washington, Beijing, China, Taipei

☆ In Singapore, China Warns U.S. While Zelensky Seeks Support
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( Chris Buckley | Damien Cave | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The competing strains on U.S. global power came into sharp focus at a security conference on Sunday, where China accused the United States of stoking tensions around Taiwan and the South China Sea, and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was seeking greater support for his embattled country. This year, the United States Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and China’s defense minister, Adm. Dong Jun, held talks, something the top defense officials from the two countries have not always done at this gathering. But Admiral Dong made clear that China remained deeply antagonistic to U.S. influence and alliance-building across Asia, especially American support for Taiwan, the island democracy that Beijing claims as its territory. “These malign intentions are drawing Taiwan to the dangers of war,” Admiral Dong told the meeting after making an oblique but unmistakable reference to U.S. military and political support for Taiwan. “Anyone who dares split Taiwan from China will be smashed to pieces and court their own destruction.”

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Lloyd J, Austin III, Dong Jun, Admiral Dong, ” Organizations: United States Defense, Taiwan Locations: China, United States, Taiwan, South China, Ukraine, Singapore, U.S, Asia, Beijing

☆ U.S. and Chinese Defense Chiefs Hold First In-Person Talks Since 2022
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Chris Buckley | Damien Cave | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S. secretary of defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, and China’s minister of defense held their first face-to-face talks in 18 months on Friday, against a backdrop of distrust over Taiwan, the South China Sea and other regional disputes. President Biden has made the case that high-level communication channels between the United States and China had to remain open to prevent potential clashes between two of the world’s most powerful militaries. Yet military issues have remained the most intractable area of tension between the two nations, and expectations for the meeting between the defense chiefs in Singapore were modest. “These are not negotiations with the intention to compromise,” said Drew Thompson, a visiting senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore who formerly served as a Pentagon official dealing with the Chinese military. “This is an opportunity for the two sides to exchange well-established talking points.”

Persons: Lloyd J, Austin III, Austin, Dong Jun, Biden, ”, Drew Thompson, Lee Organizations: Mr, Russia, Lee Kuan Yew, of Public, National University of Singapore, Pentagon Locations: Taiwan, South, Singapore, Beijing, China, Ukraine, United States

☆ Why Lawmakers Are Brawling and People Are Protesting in Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Amy Chang Chien | Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The legislation proposed by Mr. Lai’s opponents gained passage only a little over a week after he took office, highlighting the challenges he will face in pursuing his agenda without a legislative majority. In elections in January, the opposition Nationalist Party and Taiwan People’s Party together secured more seats in the 113-seat legislature than Mr. Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party. Mr. Lai’s supporters have accused the opposition of overreach and of serving the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, which claims Taiwan as its territory. Nationalist and Taiwan People’s Party legislators have rejected those accusations, and Mr. Lai’s officials have not offered proof of allegations that Beijing orchestrated the legislation. Politicians jostled and fought, and members of Mr. Lai’s party covered the floor and walls of the chamber with protest placards.

Persons: Lai Ching, Lai’s, jostled Organizations: Nationalist Party, Taiwan People’s Party, Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party, Chinese Communist Party, Nationalist Locations: Taiwan, Beijing

☆ Fintech nightmare: 'I have nearly $38,000 tied up' after Synapse bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The situation deteriorated in April after Synapse declared bankruptcy following the exodus of several key partners. That has left users of several fintech services stranded with no access to their funds, according to testimonials filed this week in a California bankruptcy court. One customer, a Maryland teacher named Chris Buckler, said in a May 21 filing that his funds at crypto app Juno were locked because of the Synapse bankruptcy. Synapse had contracts with 20 banks and 100 fintech companies, resulting in about 10 million end users, according to an April filing from founder and CEO Sankaet Pathak. The freeze-up of customer funds exposes the vulnerabilities in the banking as a service, or BAAS, partnership model and a possible blind spot for regulatory oversight.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Buckler, Buckler, Dave, Juno, Sankaet Pathak, Pathak, Joseph Dominguez, Dominguez, Jason Mikula, Mikula Organizations: Istock, Synapse, Evolve Bank & Trust, Mercury, CNBC, Evolve Bank, Trust, Regulators, FDIC, Federal Reserve Locations: California, Maryland, Joseph Dominguez of Sacramento , California, Silicon

Taiwan’s incoming president, Lai Ching-te, is poised to take office on Monday, facing hard choices about how to secure the island democracy’s future in turbulent times — with wars flaring abroad, rifts in the United States over American global security priorities, and political divisions in Taiwan over how to preserve the brittle peace with China. Mr. Lai has promised to steer Taiwan on a safe course through these hazards, a theme that he is likely to highlight in his inaugural speech on a public plaza in Taipei. He has said that he will keep strengthening ties with Washington and other Western partners while resisting Beijing’s threats and enhancing Taiwan’s defenses. Yet he may also extend a tentative olive branch to Beijing, welcoming renewed talks if China’s leader, Xi Jinping, sets aside his key precondition: that Taiwan accept that it is a part of China. “We’ll see an emphasis on continuity in national security, cross-strait issues and foreign policy,” said Lii Wen, the international director for Mr. Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party and an incoming spokesman for the new leader.

Persons: Lai Ching, Lai, Xi Jinping, “, ”, Lii Wen, Lai’s Organizations: Washington, Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party Locations: United States, Taiwan, China, Taipei, Beijing

☆ China Deploys Dozens of Ships to Block Philippine Protest Flotilla
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Chris Buckley | Camille Elemia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China has sent dozens of coast guard and maritime militia vessels toward a disputed atoll in the South China Sea, a large show of force aimed at blocking a civilian protest flotilla from the Philippines, as tensions between the countries have flared. The Filipino group organizing the flotilla of about 100 small fishing boats, led by five slightly bigger ones, said it wanted to assert the Philippines’ claims to Scarborough Shoal, an atoll controlled by Beijing that is closer to Manila. But even before the motley Philippine fleet set out on Wednesday morning, China deployed a formidable contingent of much bigger government-run ships to the area, an intimidating escalation of its frequent assertions of control over vast expanses of sea far from its mainland. “What we’re seeing this time, I would say, is definitely of another order,” said Ray Powell, the director of SeaLight, a group that monitors the South China Sea. “I think that the China Coast Guard is concerned that they’re going to try to sort of get too close and so they’re sending an overwhelming force.”

Persons: ”, Ray Powell Organizations: Philippine, China Coast Guard Locations: China, South China, Philippines, Scarborough, Beijing, Manila

☆ Aiming for Rosier Ties, Xi Wraps Up Europe Visit
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Andrew Higgins | Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, received a gift of fine cognac at the Élysée Palace in Paris and was cheered in Belgrade by Serbians waving Chinese flags, albeit most of them were bused-in government workers. And by the time he left Hungary on Friday at the end of a six-day European tour, the clouds over his country’s relations with the West looked much less dark, at least from China’s perspective. Mr. Xi told President Emmanuel Macron of France that relations would be “as vibrant and thriving as springtime.” At his next stop, he said the “tree of China-Serbia friendship will grow tall and sturdy.” In Hungary, Mr. Xi told Prime Minister Viktor Orban that their countries were poised to “embark on a golden voyage.”The Chinese state-run news media, never less than glowing about Mr. Xi, went to strenuous lengths to present his European meetings as a triumph.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi, Emmanuel Macron, Viktor Orban Locations: Paris, Belgrade, Hungary, France, China, Serbia

☆ Xi Visits Europe, Seeking Strategic Opportunity
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Roger Cohen | Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On his first visit to Europe in five years, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, appears intent on seizing opportunities to loosen the continent’s bonds with the United States and forge a world freed of American dominance. The Chinese leader has chosen three countries to visit — France, Serbia and Hungary — that each, to a greater or lesser degree, look askance at America’s postwar ordering of the world, see China as a necessary counterweight and are eager to bolster economic ties. At a time of tensions with much of Europe — over China’s “no limits” embrace of Russia despite the war in Ukraine, its surveillance state and its apparent espionage activities that led to the recent arrest in Germany of four people — Mr. Xi, who is arriving in France on Sunday, wants to demonstrate China’s growing influence on the continent and pursue a pragmatic rapprochement. For Europe, the visit will test its delicate balancing act between China and the United States, and will no doubt be seen in Washington as a none-too-subtle effort by Mr. Xi to divide Western allies.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Mr, Xi Organizations: — Locations: Europe, United States, — France, Serbia, Hungary, China, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France, Washington

☆ Why Xi Jinping Is Meeting With Taiwan’s Ex-President
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But on Wednesday, as the two men met again in Beijing, the prospects for an amicable settlement over Taiwan’s future seemed more distant than ever. Mr. Ma, who pursued closer engagement with China during his eight years in office, is no longer president of Taiwan. Fewer and fewer Taiwanese people now share his belief that Taiwan must see its future as a part of a greater China. Since Mr. Ma left office in 2016, Mr. Xi has frozen high-level contacts with Taiwan, sought to isolate it on the global stage and tried to intimidate it with a tightening military presence around the island. Mr. Xi is profoundly suspicious of Taiwan’s current leadership, which has sought to assert the sovereignty of the island democracy.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Ma Ying, —, Ma, Xi Organizations: Mr Locations: Taiwan, Singapore, Beijing, China

When the largest earthquake in Taiwan in half a century struck off its east coast, the buildings in the closest city, Hualien, swayed and rocked. As more than 300 aftershocks rocked the island over the next 24 hours to Thursday morning, the buildings shook again and again. One of them, the rounded, red brick Uranus Building, which leaned precariously after its first floors collapsed, was mostly drawing curious onlookers. The building is a reminder of how much Taiwan has prepared for disasters like the magnitude-7.4 earthquake that jolted the island on Wednesday. Of Taiwan, he added: “And most of these deaths, it seems, have come from rock slides and boulders, rather than building collapses.”

Persons: ”, Daniel Aldrich Organizations: Global Resilience, Northeastern University Locations: Taiwan, Hualien

It was so strong it set off tsunami warnings in Japan, China and the Philippines. But then, even in a fault-riddled place with long and hard experience with earthquakes, the jolt of aftershock after aftershock was startling, continuing every few minutes throughout the day. The magnitude-7.4 quake killed nine and injured at least 1,011 others, stretching an expert quake response system that has served as a model in other places. In Hualien County, close to the epicenter, 71 people were trapped in two mining areas as of Wednesday night and dozens of others were stranded, according to officials. Around 14,000 households were without water, and 1,000 households were without power.

Persons: aftershock Locations: Taiwan, Japan, China, Philippines, Hualien County

☆ Beijing Deplores Taiwan’s Next President, but Welcomes an Old One
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Chris Buckley | Amy Chang Chien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As tensions fester between China and Taiwan, one elder politician from the island democracy is getting an effusive welcome on the mainland: Ma Ying-jeou, a former president. Mr. Ma’s 11-day trip across China, which was set to begin on Monday, comes at a fraught time. Beijing and Taipei have been in dispute over two Chinese fishermen who died while trying to flee a Taiwanese coast guard vessel in February, and China has sent its own coast guard ships close to a Taiwanese-controlled island near where the men died. Taiwanese officials expect China to intensify its military intimidation once the island’s next president, Lai Ching-te, takes office on May 20. His Democratic Progressive Party rejects Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China, and Chinese officials particularly dislike Mr. Lai, often citing his 2017 description of himself as a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan’s independence.”On the other hand, China’s warm treatment of Mr. Ma, 73, Taiwan’s president from 2008 to 2016, seems a way to emphasize that Beijing will keep an open door for politicians who favor closer ties and accept its conditions for talks.

Persons: Ma Ying, Ma’s, Lai Ching, Lai, ”, Ma Organizations: Democratic Progressive Party Locations: China, Taiwan, Beijing, Taipei, Taiwanese

The United States and China are locked in a new race, in space and on Earth, over a fundamental resource: time itself. And the United States is losing. Global positioning satellites serve as clocks in the sky, and their signals have become fundamental to the global economy — as essential for telecommunications, 911 services and financial exchanges as they are for drivers and lost pedestrians. But those services are increasingly vulnerable as space is rapidly militarized and satellite signals are attacked on Earth. Yet, unlike China, the United States does not have a Plan B for civilians should those signals get knocked out in space or on land.

Organizations: Global Locations: States, China, United States

☆ China’s Dispute With Taiwan Is Playing Out Near This Frontline Island
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Chris Buckley | Amy Chang Chien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A small island controlled by Taiwan a few miles off China’s coast lived for decades in constant readiness for war. At one point in 1958, troops there hunkered in bunkers as Communist forces rained hundreds of thousands of shells on them. These days, the island, Kinmen, has become a hub of Taiwan’s commerce with China and its abandoned, weatherworn fortifications are tourist sites. Eight ferries a day take Taiwanese businesspeople and visitors from Kinmen to mainland China. But the sea around Kinmen has again turned tense after two Chinese men onboard a speedboat died in the area last month while trying to flee a Taiwanese Coast Guard vessel.

Organizations: Coast Guard Locations: Taiwan, Kinmen, China

☆ Xi Sticks to His Vision for China’s Rise Even as Growth Slows
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even with growth faltering in China, Xi Jinping appears imperiously assured that he possesses the right road map to surpass Western rivals. China’s economy has lurched into a slower gear. But Mr. Xi seems unbowed in insisting that his policies, featuring extensive party control and state-led industrial investment in new sectors like electric vehicles and semiconductors, can secure China’s rise. In a mark of that confidence, his government announced last week that China’s economy was likely to grow about 5 percent this year, much the same pace as last year, according to official statistics. And Mr. Xi emphasized his ambitions for a new phase of industrial growth driven by innovation, acting as if the past year or two of setbacks were an aberration.

Persons: Xi Jinping, —, Xi Locations: China, United States, West

☆ China’s New Economic Agenda, a Lot Like the Old One: Takeaways
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China’s annual legislative meeting — the National People’s Congress, when Communist Party leaders promote their solutions for national ills — opened for business. The event is a chance for the leaders to signal the direction of the economy and outline how and where the government will spend money in the coming year. Despite their reluctance to spend, China’s top leaders said the economy would grow around 5 percent this year. The growth target and other policies came in a report given to the annual session of the legislature. 2 official, Li Qiang, and is the marquee event in a weeklong gathering dominated by officials and party loyalists.

Persons: —, China’s, Li Qiang Organizations: People’s Congress, Communist Party Locations: Beijing

☆ China Scraps Premier’s Annual News Conference in Surprise Move
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Vivian Wang | Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China’s premier will no longer hold a news conference after the country’s annual legislative meeting, Beijing announced on Monday, ending a three-decades-long practice that had been an exceedingly rare opportunity for journalists to interact with top Chinese leaders. It also reinforced how China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has consolidated power, relegating all other officials, including the premier — the country’s No. 2, who oversees government ministries — to much less visible roles. China’s current premier, Li Qiang, was widely considered to have been elevated to the role last year because of his loyalty to Mr. Xi. “Barring any special circumstances, there will not be a premier’s news conference in the next few years after this year’s legislative session either,” Lou Qinjian, a spokesman for the legislature, said at a news briefing about this year’s session.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Mr, Xi, ” Lou Qinjian Locations: Beijing

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