UPDATE (Feb. 27, 2024): The NPCSC on February 27 approved the revision to the Law on Guarding State Secrets, which will take effect on May 1, 2024. An English translation of the revised Law and a Chinese comparison chart are accessible from the bill page.
China’s top legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its eighth session from February 26 to 27, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Wednesday, February 7.
As expected, this two-day meeting will primarily make preparations for the NPC’s 2024 session, scheduled to open on March 5. In addition to discussing its annual work report to the NPC, the NPCSC will review a proposed itemized agenda for the 2024 NPC session, among other preparatory matters.
The agenda won’t be finalized until March 4, the day before the NPC convenes. But this does not mean that the upcoming NPC session is still shrouded in complete mystery. Most (if not all) of its agenda items were already announced last December: routine work reports, government budgets, China’s annual socioeconomic development plan, and a legislative bill. But there is a big unknown: whether the NPC will fill the vacancies at the State Council and on the Central Military Commission created by Qin Gang’s and Li Shangfu’s removals. That question will remain until the agenda is announced on March 4—or until the Communist Party sends the world some sort of signal first (say, by convening a Central Committee plenum later this month).
In addition, the NPCSC will review the draft revision to the Law on Guarding State Secrets [保守国家秘密法] for the second time later this month. While styled as a comprehensive “revision,” the bill would not drastically alter the existing state-secrets legal regime—for instance, the definition and categories of state secrets would remain the same—and would mostly refine existing rules. There is, however, one provision that has raised eyebrows: a new article 61 would require official entities to designate as “work secrets” [工作秘密] any matters that, though not state secrets, could “impede [their] performance of duties or have an adverse impact on national security or the public interest” if leaked, and require them to take “necessary protective measures.” The revision is likely to pass, though we do not rule out the possibility of a third and final review later this year. We will offer additional coverage after it passes.
Finally, the Council of Chairpersons at Wednesday’s meeting heard a report on the NPC’s “diplomatic work” [对外工作] in 2023 and on proposals for such work in 2024. The NPC’s diplomatic work includes bilateral and multilateral exchanges and cooperation with foreign parliaments; issuing statements on “sensitive issues that involve China” (e.g., Hong Kong, Tibet, Covid-19) through the legislature’s and the Foreign Affairs Committee’s spokespersons; and propaganda and publicity efforts targeting the overseas audience, including producing English translations of Chinese laws. The NPCSC has always made arrangements for its diplomatic work in annual work priorities, but has not formulated dedicated work plans as it has done for its legislative, oversight, and delegates work. So the report on diplomatic work heard by the Council was a first, though its implications are so far unclear.