• China’s Li Qiang will become the first premier in three decades to not hold a press briefing at the annual parliamentary meetings, removing a rare platform for investors to learn more about the nation’s policy direction as President Xi Jinping consolidates control over the world’s second-largest economy.
• The country’s No. 2 official won’t take questions at the close of the National People’s Congress for the rest of its five-year term apart from in “special circumstances,” official spokesperson Lou Qinjian said at a Monday briefing in Beijing. This cohort of lawmakers is set to gather each year until 2027.
• The annual press conference by the sitting premier has been in place since at least 1993. Scrapping one of the few events in China’s political calendar where a top leader can interact with the public comes at a moment when the ruling Communist Party is facing growing scrutiny over restricting access to information.