“两会”是中国政治最重要的会议之一。目前，中国依然面临中美贸易战和经济放慢的开始的困境。这届会议也召开于习近平修改了宪法的一年周年，删除主席任期的限制，以及中国共产党统治的70年的周年。可是2018经济增长是6.6%，逊于预期：1990年以来，这是最低的增长率。因此，总理李克强将经济增长目标制定为6.0%，比去年的目标低0.5%。1990年，中国经济受到了天安门抗议的 影响，因为很多国家抵制中国产品。中国政治家希望一带一路是出路：通过投入很多钱在发中国家，能创造新的消费者、新的市场和新的渠道。
Li Keqiang
中国外交部长王毅说过去40年中，中美关系最重要的重点是双方通过合作可以得到利益。他希望如果美国政府能跟冷战意识形态脱节，就导致健康竞争。尽管未来充满挑战，他依然相信两个国家会能解决这个问题。王也支持华为跟美国政府打官司的决定。在美国，华为的所以产品因跟中国政府的关系的怀疑而被禁止了。最近，美国也刚刚批准孟晚舟的引渡。她去年在加拿大被拘捕了，那个时候以来，中美关系越来越越差。我觉得这个声明特别有意思：不出所料的是中国政府设法保护本国的企业和公民。可是更有意思的是，中国政府知道中美贸易战持续越长，影响越大。虽然对美国的影响比较大，对中国的影响更大，因为中国企业依靠美国的技术。如果美国技术公司被美国政府命令跟中国不再打交道的话，可能会导致很大的社会、经济和政治的问题。
王也确认下个月习近平会访问欧洲。虽然他说中欧关系很好，可是说也能受到外部影响，暗示欧洲国家应该不以美国为榜样，比方说因贸易的逆差而压抑中国。
尽管表面上两会是很严肃的，事实上还有很好玩和奇怪的事情。比方说，有一首说唱音乐歌，宣传两会。可是歌词都是英文，所以它的原定的听众是外国人吗？还是中国政府觉得用英文的歌更受欢迎吗？我也不知道。可是最大的问题是歌词真的没有有意：有很多错误。因此，不管中国人还是外国人，我们都听不懂。我觉得可能会事与愿违。
Lyrics such as “I got elation from inspiration from writing a compliment song”
另外，一位政治家说西藏欢迎外国游客。对他们旅行的任何限制是因为政府需要保护外国人的健康。由于西藏的地理和气候的挑战，有些外国游客难以适应高海拔。他甚至声称本地人有时候发现在帐篷里游客的尸体！
最后，两会刚刚召开的时候，我在房子里通过大窗户远望，还看得到灰色的空气污染，让我失望。一般来说，在北京召开重大会议的时候，开会几天前，政府命令附近的工厂停产。结果是北京天空是蓝色的 – – 人人都享受呼吸新鲜的空气！本周，两会开会后两天蓝天才出现。显然现在的污染那么严重所以需要更长时间消除空气污染。
ENGLISH:
The ‘Two Sessions’ are one the most important meetings in Chinese politics. At present, China is facing the difficulties of the Sino-American trade war and economic slowdown. This year’s meeting takes places at the one-year anniversary of Xi Jinping’s amendment of the constitution, where he removed presidential term limits, and also the 70th anniversary of the CCP’s rule. But in 2018, economic growth fell below expectations and slowed to 6.6%. This is the slowest rate of growth for China since 1990 and consequently, Li Keqiang set the economic growth target at 6.0%, 0.5% less compared to last year. In 1990, the Chinese economy suffered the effects of the Tiananmen Square protests, after which lots of countries boycotted Chinese products. China hopes that ‘One Belt One Road’ is the way out: by investing lots of money in developing countries, new consumers, new markets and new channels can be created.
The Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, also said that in the past 40 years, the most important focal point of Sino-American relations is through cooperation both sides can reap benefits. He hopes that if US government can distance themselves from their Cold War ideology, this will in turn lead to healthy competition. And in spite of many future challenges, he still believes that both countries can solve this issue. Wang also supported Huawei’s decision to take the US government to court. In the US, all of Huawei’s products are banned due to suspicions of their link with the Chinese government. Recently, the US also approved Meng Wanzhou’s extradition, who was arrested in Canada last year; from that moment on, Sino-American relations have become progressively worse. I think that Wang’s statement is extremely interesting: unexpectedly, the Chinese government is trying to protect its citizens and companies. But what’s more interesting is that the Chinese government recognises the fact that the longer the trade war continues, the larger the effects will be. Although the US will be affected badly, China will be affected even more, since Chinese companies rely on American technology. If US technology companies are ordered by the US government to stop all interaction with China, this could lead to great social, economic and political problems.
The first day of the Two Sessions vs Third day
Wang also confirmed that Xi would visit Europe next month. Although he said that Sino-European relations were good, he said that it could be influenced by external factors, hinting that Europe shouldn’t follow US’ example, such as pressuring China over trade deficits.
Although on the surface the Two Sessions are serious, they are still some rather amusing (and bemusing things!)– for example there was a rap song which promoted the meeting featuring solely English lyrics. Were the intended audience foreigners, or does the Chinese government think that English songs are more popular? I’m still not sure! But the big problem was that the lyrics didn’t make sense, due to countless errors. Consequently, it didn’t matter the audience, no one could understand it, which makes me think that the idea has somewhat backfired.
In addition, a politician said that Tibet welcomed foreigners and that any restrictions were simply because the government needed to protect foreigners’ health. Due to the Tibet’s geographical and climatic challenge, foreign travellers could have difficulty adjusting to the high altitude. He even said that local people had sometimes found travellers’ corpses in tents!
Finally, just after the Two Sessions had started, I looked out the window, and still saw the grey of the air pollution, which was quite depressing: normally, when Beijing is hosting a large political meeting, a few days before its opening, the government orders the nearby factories to stop production. As a result, Beijing’s sky is blue and everyone enjoys breathing in the fresh air. But this week, it was only two days after the Two Sessions had started that the blue sky appeared. This clearly means that the current air pollution is serious and that it needed a long time to disappear.