By Charles Onunaiju

A very significant event in China’s political calendar is underway in Beijing and as usual, it is beyond optics. The 4th sessions of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) and the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the two country’s top legislative and top advisory bodies would set the stage for the direction of China in the course of the year and beyond.

The “two sessions” are the key institutional expression of China’s consultative and inclusive political process and reflect in concrete terms her “whole-process people’s democracy”, where institutional procedures are organically linked to substantive delivery in the tangible and practical outcomes. The “two sessions”, two major institutions that are rooted in China’s national condition and social realities, were fundamental to the modern China and have evolved not only as important organs of democratic expression, but crucial pillars in the contemporary governance process of China.

With China as the second largest economy in the world, with a contribution of about 30% to global growth and 70% in global poverty reduction, how China is governed is naturally of interest beyond her border.

In the past 36 years, Beijing’s most conspicuous foreign relations act at the start of every year is the foreign minister’s visit to Africa. The “two sessions” is China’s most consequential annual event in her political calendar and it happens right after Beijing outreach to Africa at the start of every year. Beyond optics, it signifies shared vision on a range of issues that includes, trade and investment, industrial and production capacity cooperation, peace and security and of the larger question of global governance reforms etc.

As Africa’s largest trading partner for the past 17 consecutive years with bilateral trade reaching a record high of $348 billion in 2025, representing about 17.7% increase from 2024, exports from Africa to China grew by 5.4% to $123billion. The prospects to further narrowing the gap of the trade balance remain very high. China from the month of May after the conclusion of the “two sessions” would put into full effect, the mechanism for zero-tariff entry of high quality products from the 53 countries except Estwani to the Chinese market.

The major agenda of this year’s “two sessions” would be the approval of China’s 15th five year development plan. The plan aims to consolidate China’s unified national market, presenting the world with the opportunity of an unprecedented big single market. The high quality opening of the Chinese market would be complimented by a deliberate policy to foster domestic consumption by substantially boosting incomes.

China’s top legislative branch, the National People’s Congress and its high advisory counterpart, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, have their work meaningfully cut out: to examine the details and relate it to the big picture of the country’s overall economic roadmaps in the next five years, with periodic oversight of its implementation trajectories. The political advantage of consultative and inclusive process as the key operating mechanism of China political life is that it brings out the best of the country’s manpower endowments, ensuring that no insight or perspective is left out in forging critical consensus on governance and development.