The roles of many Chinese national bodies, including its rubber-stamp legislature, have been dwindling in the country’s politics as a result of President Xi Jinping’s efforts to amass unrivaled power in recent years, observers say.

The Communist Party under Xi had taken away powers previously held by many national-level authorities since the launch of major reforms in 2018, said Ding Shuh-fan, an international affairs professor at National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

The restructuring caused the National People’s Congress to play an even lesser role than it already did as China’s rubber-stamp legislature, while the National Religious Affairs Administration and the National Ethnic Affairs Commission were incorporated into sub-branches under the party-led United Front Work Department, Ding said.

“Since the reform, all the powers have ended up in the hands of the Communist Party,” he told Voice of America. “The party’s control of these national bodies has become tighter and tighter. And Xi has consolidated his power through the party.”

Many proposals deemed politically incorrect from these bodies had been brushed aside as a result, Ding added.

The NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top advisory body, will hold their annual meetings in Beijing starting Friday and Thursday respectively, to discuss plans for the country.

Ahead of the yearly “two sessions,” observers said they saw differences in China’s governance before and after Xi took the helm in 2012.

Previously the NPC, while predominantly a rubber stamp, could still have some sort of supervisory role to play, a human rights lawyer told VOA on condition of anonymity. This was not allowed under Xi’s leadership, the lawyer said.

Former No. 1 leaders Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao had allowed a small degree of free competition in local elections for delegates to national bodies such as the NPC, political commentator Sang Pu said.

Such contests were banned after Xi rose to power, with unwanted candidates getting disqualified or even punished, Sang said.

Sang and another observer, Zhang Jian, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies’ institute for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao studies, both agreed that Beijing would take steps to eliminate pro-democracy politicians from Hong Kong elections.

The NPC might lay out reform plans aimed at introducing “Chinese characteristics” into Hong Kong elections during its annual session this week, Sang said.

It removed four politicians from the city’s legislature last year and was expected to continue to block pro-democracy figures from taking part in Hong Kong elections, Zhang said.

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