A few blocks from the 1950s-era hall where China's figurehead parliament met yesterday, shoppers at the sleek modern shops in Wangfujing district felt so removed from its workings that they might have been in a different world.
"The National People's Congress (NPC) meets once a year, and we don't know what they do for the rest of the year," said a middle-aged man outside a green-domed department store identified by a neon sign as the Beijing Muslim Building. He would give only his surname, Zhang.
"I'm not criticizing the assembly, but I want them to be more open to change," he said.
The comments reflected the gulf between the NPC and China's fast-changing, increasingly capitalist society.
Officially the "highest organ of state power," the legislature is the powerless face of a closed, secretive communist system.
Chinese leaders depend on it as a way to try to keep in touch with society, but its members have little contact with ordinary Chinese.
"They do what they have to do. We work hard. We have our lives. They have theirs," said Cheng Lan, a 22-year-old student who was whiling away her morning window-shopping.
Despite such a political gap, state media have been filled with reports about issues to be debated during the legislative session -- and many ordinary Chinese had their own opinions.
"We live the good life here in Beijing, but the government must also take care of the countryside," said Wang Yuan, 43, as he left an upscale bakery with a bag of red bean pastries.
"If you don't improve the farmers' lives, the country as a whole will not move forward," he said.
Qin Zhiguang, who was dressed in a black leather jacket and shopping for glasses, said an "anti-secession" law was needed to keep Taiwan from slipping away for good.
"We need to tell Taiwan, `You can go this far but no further,'" said Qin, 35.
"They must know there is a line they can't cross," he said.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
RSS