Chinas Two Sessions Break With Norms, Suggesting Possible Leadership Shake-Up

Members of the People’s Armed Police March in Tiananmen Square in front of a snow covered Tiananmen Gate after providing security for the opening session of the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp legislature, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 5, 2026. Kevin Frayer/Getty ImagesAs China’s annual political meetings opened this week, an unexpected detail on the stage of the regime’s top advisory body drew quiet scrutiny from political analysts—the absence of a key official from a position he would typically occupy.The meetings, known as the “Two Sessions,” convened on March 4 in Beijing and are expected to last a week. It brings together the regime’s rubber-stamp legislative body, the National People’s Congress (NPC), and the political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), to set the agenda for policy priorities in the year ahead.