The Chinese Legislature’s Hidden Agenda
The Diplomat, February 9, 2022
Excerpt:
“For about a decade, China’s national legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), made real improvements to its transparency. . . . In the past two years, however, the legislature has appeared increasingly tempted to embrace the secrecy afforded by the Great Hall of the People. It has been withholding legislative drafts at a greater frequency – five in 2020-2021 alone versus five total during 2015-2019. It has also started to hide certain bills on its legislative agenda from the public until shortly before or, worse, until after their adoption. This practice not only departs from the legislature’s transparency norm, but is also at odds with the party-state’s legal reform agenda and recent official rhetoric on China’s political system.”
