Naps, noodles most talked of at Chinese party meet

Beijing, March 7: China is set to pass its first Constitutional amendments in 14 years this weekend, but at Wednesday’s public discussion on the changes, delegates seemed more interested in talking about beef noodles and taking naps.

No one expected dissent as legislators from the northwest provinces of Gansu and Qinghai gathered in Beijing’s cavernous Great Hall of the People on Wednesday to deliberate changes to the nation’s most important legal document.

There is little suspense about the outcome of Sunday’s momentous vote to institute a number of major Constitutional revisions including a decision to remove presidential term limits, opening a path for the current leader Xi Jinping to rule for life. The 3,000 legislators of the National People’s Congress fill a mostly ceremonial role. The real decisions have already been made by the ruling Communist Party.

Even so, Wednesday’s two open sessions seemed free of substantive discussion about the consequential legal reform.

At the Qinghai meeting, delegates sat in a horseshoe as men in grey suits droned on about the work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang to kick off the parliamentary session on Monday.

Ethnic minority representatives in the colourful robes of Tibet and Mongolia looked on. A couple of men wore the white skull caps typical of the region’s Hui Muslims.

They were nominally there to discuss the Constitutional revisions, which include the rollout of a national anti- graft body, a larger role for the Party and the addition of Xi’s eponymous political philosophy.

THERE IS little suspense about Sunday’s vote on Presidential terms 3,000 legislators of the National People’s Congress fill a ceremonial role. COMMUNIST party decided everything