Road to China’s ‘two sessions’ starts with Covid-19 test for journalists

Fewer reporters have access to senior officials this year while health restrictions take some of the pressure off identifying who’s who
Masked delegates entered the Great Hall of the People for the start of Beijing’s biggest annual political event on Thursday

Two Sessions 2021 (Lianghui)

Jun Maiin Beijing

Published: 9:26pm, 4 Mar 2021

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I panicked when I covered the annual Chinese legislative session for the first time in 2012. As thousands of lawmakers and political advisers – mostly middle-aged men in black suits – poured into the Great Hall of the People, I simply could not tell at first glance who was who.

I tried desperately to stare at the tiny name tags worn by each one, as many more passed by me to enter the main hall, which I and my fellow journalists could not enter.

China’s ‘two sessions’ 2021: five things you need to know

I had done my homework. But the most senior officials used a separate passage into the main hall while I could not possibly remember the thousands of other faces – among them provincial governors, generals, mayors, scholars, business executives, scientists and artists. All would be very hard to reach once they left the building.

The strict disease control measures imposed on this year’s gatherings eased my panic somewhat. With all members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference wearing masks, it had become technically impossible to spot anyone, regardless of how much homework I had done.

The “two sessions” is always regarded with ambivalence by journalists, both domestic or from overseas. There are two weeks of non-stop work, involving running between more than a dozen venues daily. There are hours of long speeches and press conferences to sit through, waiting for a specific piece of official data, a new policy signal or – if one is lucky – an exclusive from an official who happened to be in the restroom.

Yet it is also arguably the only time of year a journalist can get so close to China’s political elite, who otherwise spend most of their time in various forbidding walled compounds in Beijing and elsewhere.

This year’s two sessions is especially important, with the unveiling of Beijing’s next five-year plan, as well as a longer strategic blueprint called Vision 2035. But, despite its significance, fewer journalists will have the chance to chase officials and raise tough questions and the normally two-week affair has been condensed into roughly a week.

The number of journalists allowed into the event has always been strictly controlled. In a similar practice to previous years, most events will allow only one journalist through the door, with lots drawn to decide who can attend specific events.

This year, the drawing of lots was just the beginning of a long journey to the Great Hall of the People. All journalists had to be tested for Covid-19 at 6am in a nearby hotel where we were quarantined for hours until all were confirmed negative.

Yet that level of precaution was not enough to provide overseas journalists with the same access as their domestic colleagues. No correspondents from outside the mainland are invited to the corridors where ministers take turns to answer questions from the press, for example.

The border between the “two circulations” seemed to be drawn over the issue of vaccination. All journalists with domestic media had to be vaccinated to cover this year’s two sessions, a privilege afforded to very few overseas reporters.