Xi is certain to be reappointed as president after he locked in another five years as head of the Communist Party (CCP) and the military -- the two more significant leadership positions in Chinese politics -- in October.
Since then, 69-year-old Xi has faced unexpected challenges and scrutiny over his leadership, with mass protests over his zero-Covid policy and its subsequent abandonment that saw countless people die.
But those issues are almost certain to be avoided at the National People's Congress (NPC), a carefully choreographed event that will also see the unveiling of a Xi ally as the new premier.
Starting on Sunday, the NPC is expected to last around 10 days and culminate with Xi's presidency being endorsed by the 3,000 delegates casting votes in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
"Public opinion is probably not very good about him -- zero-Covid has damaged people's faith," said Alfred Muluan Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Yet Xi still enjoys a "pretty strong" position at the top of the party that makes him virtually unchallengeable, Wu said.
China maintained some of the world's strictest Covid curbs until late last year, pounding growth and social life under a constant barrage of testing mandates, quarantines and travel restrictions that Xi himself championed.
Public resentment exploded in November into the most widespread public demonstrations for decades, followed by the rapid dismantling of the policy and a maelstrom of infections and deaths that went mostly unreported by authorities.
The country is still tentatively emerging from the outbreak, after three years in which business, employment and even education were subjugated to the government's demand to shut out the virus at any cost.
And the gathered lawmakers will likely set some of China's lowest economic growth goals in decades on the opening day of the NPC, according to experts interviewed by AFP.
However, there is no sign that the position of Xi -- who has stacked the party's top bodies with loyalists, and expunged rivals in last year's Congress reshuffle -- is in any doubt.
Li Qiang, a Xi confidant and former Shanghai party chief, is set to be named premier.
- Crisis? What crisis? -
Instead of threatening Xi's rule, last year's protests actually "gave him just the out he was looking for", according to Christopher Johnson, president and CEO of China Strategies Group.
"If abandoning zero-Covid went well, he could... say he listened to the people. If it went poorly, he could blame the protesters and the 'hostile foreign forces' that his top security chief publicly suggested were behind them," he wrote in an article for Foreign Affairs magazine last week.
Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, said Xi now had an opportunity to flaunt his response to pressure.
"He acted decisively when the protests included calls for him and the CCP to step down. He quashed them and removed the basic cause," Tsang told AFP.
"He can present himself as leading from the front, rather than being pushed to react."
But Oxford University professor emeritus Vivienne Shue suggested it was time for Chinese leaders to reflect on "what certainly looks like a cumulative record of failures" to respond to crises in recent years.
- Drifting apart -
Delegates to the NPC -- and to the concurrent "political consultative conference" (CPPCC) -- will also approve a slate of personnel changes and discuss a range of issues from the economic recovery to improved sex education in schools, according to state media reports.
The meetings serve as a forum for attendees to present pet projects, but they have little say in broader questions of how China is run.
This year's conclave will take place against the backdrop of increasingly fraught ties with Western countries.
A spat with the United States over alleged surveillance balloons has added to dismay over Beijing's equivocal stance on its ally Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
As well as announcing China's GDP target for the coming year, outgoing Premier Li Keqiang is expected to use his speech at Sunday's opening ceremony to pledge a bump in military spending.
Key points on China's annual parliamentary meeting
Beijing (AFP) March 3, 2023 -
Thousands of politicians from across China are set to convene in Beijing for the start of the country's annual legislative meetings known as the "lianghui" or "Two Sessions".
The tightly-controlled voting on legislation already pre-approved by China's ruling Communist Party is unlikely to implement any major changes.
But it does provide a glimpse into the country's politics and priorities, with observers focused on the specific economic targets set as the country emerges from its "zero-Covid" policy, as well as institutional shake-ups and political horse-trading.
Here's what you need to know:
What are the 'Two Sessions'?
The first one, which is due to kick off Saturday, is the gathering of China's political advisory committee, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
The group's members -- who have included many of China's most famous celebrities, such as Yao Ming and Jackie Chan -- receive a lot of attention at home, but its discussions are relatively low stakes: representatives provide lawmakers with policy suggestions that, more often than not, have little impact on national policy.
The real focus of the "Two Sessions" is the meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's legislature, starting Sunday at Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
Two thirds of the legislature's members come from the Communist Party.
Most of the bills that will be passed have already been decided by party leaders well in advance, leading to it being described as a "rubber-stamp" parliament.
How important is it?
China goes to great lengths to make sure there are no embarrassing incidents during the parliamentary session, which is touted by the Communist Party as proof that it answers to the people despite its monopoly on power.
The meeting place in the Great Hall of the People is freshened up, traffic is shut down, factories are closed to guarantee blue skies, plainclothes policemen seem to lurk on every corner and political dissidents are rounded up and asked -- or sometimes forced -- to go on "vacation" somewhere far away from the capital.
It is also the one time each year when the country's most powerful politicians are all in one place, making it a key venue for political horse-trading, glad-handing and backstabbing.
Every five years, the parliamentary session also sees the appointment of the president -- this year Xi Jinping is expected to start his third term in the position, complementing two top Communist Party positions he secured at a congress last October.
This gathering will be the first since China reversed its stringent "zero-Covid" policy, although media attendees have been asked to quarantine at a hotel the evening before it begins -- indicating a lingering unease with the virus.
What are the top issues?
Post-pandemic economic recovery will be the top focus of many observers this year, as analysts expect a modest GDP growth goal for 2023 of around 5.3 percent.
A communique released this week following the conclusion of a plenary session for the 20th Central Committee revealed that the meetings will include discussions of "a plan on reform of Party and state institutions", causing experts to speculate that an overhaul of the country's security apparatus may be in the works.
And the release of details on military spending will offer signals of China's confidence in current geopolitical conditions, from tensions in the Taiwan Strait and Russia's conflict in Ukraine.
Observers will also be closely assessing any plans announced on the allocation of public resources into key technological sectors or major infrastructure development projects.
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