China's most important annual political meeting kicks off Thursday, with heavy security around Tiananmen Square. This meeting is called a parliament meeting, but it works very differently from a democratic legislature.
The so-called lawmakers are not elected by the people. Instead, they are appointed by the Communist Party. For decades, China's congress has never rejected a single government proposal.
As usual, this year's meetings are being accompanied by police vehicles and soldiers around the venue, with nearby roads blocked off.
At the opening session, Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced a 7 percent increase in the national defense budget, slightly lower than last year, and set the economic growth target for the year at 4.5 percent to 5 percent, also slightly lower than last year's 5 percent.
Worth noting, experts are often skeptical about figures issued by Beijing. For example, last year China's official growth target was 5 percent. However, some think tank estimates put actual growth below 3 percent.