His name appeared 16 times in the government work report delivered by the premier, Li Qiang, the number two leader, reportedly more than in any other year since Xi took office over a decade ago. Li was clear that credit for China's achievements in 2023 was owed to Xi and "the sound guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", Xi's ideological doctrine.
Journalists at this year's Two Sessions - the first fully open to the media since the pandemic-outnumbered the delegates, but engagement with the press was limited and choreographed.
The last day of the National People's Congress (NPC) is normally a chance for the media to meet China's premier, though this year Li's press conference was cancelled without explanation, closing down one of the already limited forums for transparency. Press conferences on the NPC sidelines largely consisted of scripted answers.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 15, 2024 من The Guardian Weekly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 15, 2024 من The Guardian Weekly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Out of touch How president sealed his own fate in martial law gambit
For Yoon Suk Yeol, this month's short-lived martial law declaration wasn't just a catastrophic miscalculation - it was the culmination of a presidency that had been troubled from the start.
Son of the soil Who is François Bayrou, the farmer turned prime minister?
François Bayrou, the new French prime minister, calls himself a country man. A tractor-driving \"son of the soil\" and breeder of thoroughbreds, he has run for president three times, saying his rural roots and centrist politics led him to try to find common ground between left and right.
Power plant workers keeping the lights on
The Guardian Weekly visits a Soviet-era coal-fired thermal installation to learn how it has held up to Russian attacks
Prince charmed Alleged spy scandal may have exposed China threat
Prince Andrew should be commended for doing Britain a great service, according to longstanding China watcher Charles Parton. The now marginalised royal has, the analyst observed, \"almost single handedly\" succeeded \"in highlighting the threat to free and open countries\" posed by the contemporary Chinese state.
In Moscow, a new life of secluded irrelevance awaits Assad
He was whisked away without a last message to his people, the aircraft's transponder deliberately switched off to avoid detection as it departed from an airbase in Syria.
'We fear new oppression' Alawites worry over rebel rule
To prepare khubeiza, the leaves of the kale-like plant must be roughly chopped and sauteed with onions, garlic and a dash of salt. According to folklore, the recipe originated among the Alawite communities who lived in Syria's mountainous coastline where the fibrous, wild-growing plant can be found in abundance. So poor were the Alawites in Ottoman times, the story goes, that the only food they could find to eat was khubeiza, which sprouts like a stubborn weed every spring.
'Gisèle is waiting for explanations'
The Pelicot rape trial has horrified the world. But as it comes to an end, the questions it has raised about French society and rape culture have still not been answered.
FROM DOCTOR TO BRUTAL DICTATOR THE RISE AND FALL OF ASSAD
0N THE FACE OF IT AT LEAST, the Bashar al-Assad of 2002 presented a starkly different figure from the brutal autocrat he would become, presiding over a fragile state founded on torture, imprisonment and industrial murder.
What fresh alternatives can be used to placate coriander haters?
Everyone knows a hater of coriander - also known as cilantro - who won't go near the stuff. Itamar Srulovich, however, is not one: \"I adore fresh coriander, and always have,\" says the chef/co-owner of the Honey & Co group in London.
Farage is lying in wait.Britain cannot afford to see Starmer fail Jonathan Freedland
This government must not fail. Let's get that clear from the start. If Keir Starmer does not succeed, too many British voters will conclude that both the traditional parties, Labour and Conservative, have proved useless and that it is time to try something else with that something else being nationalist populism.