Every year, the top Chinese legislative and advisory bodies meet for two weeks to rubber-stamp decisions already made by the Chinese Communist Party. It’s called the “two sessions,” and it began on March 4. This year’s meeting was the first since the end of zero-COVID restrictions, and was also an opportunity to get an inside look into the Chinese leadership’s fears and priorities. The meetings came to a close just before Chinese president Xi Jinping met face-to-face with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
How strong is the relationship between Beijing and Moscow? And, beyond the headlines, what can the world expect from the “two sessions” convening? What will it mean for China’s economy, defense budget, and foreign policy?
Join FP’s Ravi Agrawal in conversation with a panel of China experts as they decipher the news from Beijing: Ryan Hass is the former China director at the National Security Council under President Barack Obama and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Zongyuan Zoe Liu is an FP columnist and fellow for international political economy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and James Palmer is a deputy editor at Foreign Policy and the author of the magazine’s China Brief newsletter.

Ryan Hass
Senior fellow, Brookings Institution
Ryan Hass is a senior fellow and the Michael H. Armacost chair in Foreign Policy studies at the Brookings Institution. He was China director at the National Security Council from 2013 to 2017 and served in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 2008 to 2012. He is the author of Stronger: Adapting America’s China Strategy in an Age of Competitive Interdependence.

Zongyuan Zoe Liu
Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Zongyuan Zoe Liu is an FP columnists and a fellow for international political economy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

James Palmer
Deputy editor, Foreign Policy
James Palmer is a deputy editor at Foreign Policy and writes FP’s weekly China Brief newsletter. Palmer is the author of The Bloody White Baron: The Extraordinary Story of the Russian Nobleman Who Became the Last Khan of Mongolia and The Death of Mao: The Tangshan Earthquake and the Birth of the New China.

Host
Ravi Agrawal
Editor in chief, Foreign Policy
Ravi Agrawal is the editor in chief of Foreign Policy, the host of FP Live, and a regular world affairs analyst on TV and radio. Before joining FP in 2018, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade in full-time roles spanning three continents, including as the network’s New Delhi bureau chief and correspondent. He has shared a Peabody Award and three Emmy nominations for his work as a TV producer, and his writing for FP was part of a series nominated for a 2020 National Magazine Award for columns and commentary. Agrawal is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy. He is a graduate of Harvard University.