纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中国取消总理记者会逾30年传统被终止

China’s premier will no longer hold a news conference after the country’s annual legislative meeting, Beijing announced on Monday, ending a three-decades-long practice that had been an exceedingly rare opportunity for journalists to interact with top Chinese leaders.

中国政府周一宣布，今年的全国人大会议结束后不再举行总理记者会，结束了一个长达30年的传统。总理记者会曾是让记者与中国高层领导人沟通的一个极其难得的机会。

The decision, announced a day before the opening of this year’s legislative conclave, was to many observers a sign of the country’s increasing information opacity, even as the government has declared its commitment to transparency and fostering a friendly business environment.

这项决定是在全国人大今年的闭门会议开幕前一天宣布的，对许多观察人士来说，这是中国的信息越来越不透明的又一迹象，尽管政府号称要致力于提高透明度，营造友好的商业环境。

It also reinforced how China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has consolidated power, relegating all other officials, including the premier — the country’s No. 2, who oversees government ministries — to much less visible roles. China’s current premier, Li Qiang, was widely considered to have been elevated to the role last year because of his loyalty to Mr. Xi.

该决定也充分显示了中国最高领导人习近平是如何巩固权力的，他将所有其他官员，包括负责政府各部委的国务院总理——中国的二号人物——降到了让人更少看见的地位。外界普遍认为，现任总理李强去年升任这个职位是因为他对习近平忠诚。

“Barring any special circumstances, there will not be a premier’s news conference in the next few years after this year’s legislative session either,” Lou Qinjian, a spokesman for the legislature, said at a news briefing about this year’s session.

“如无特殊情况，本届全国人大后几年也不再举行总理记者会，”全国人大发言人娄勤俭在有关今年人大会议的新闻发布会上说。

Mr. Lou offered few details about the decision, except to say that there would be a greater number of question-and-answer sessions with lower-level officials instead.

娄勤俭没有给出有关这一决定的细节，只是说人大会期间将有更多与更低级别官员交流的问答会。

On Chinese social media, censors were closely regulating discussion of the change. The comments sections of many official news reports about the announcement were closed. On the popular platform Weibo, a search for the hashtag “There will be no premier’s news conference after the closing ceremony of this year’s legislative session” — the language used in the official reports — returned an error message: “Sorry, this content cannot be displayed.”

在中国社交媒体上，审查员们密切控制关于这个变化的讨论。许多官方新闻报道的评论都已关闭。在广为使用的微博平台上，用官方宣布这个消息时使用的语言“今年十四届全国人大二次会议闭幕后，不举行总理记者会”进行搜索，得到的是出错提示：“抱歉，该内容无法显示。”

China’s premier has hosted a news conference at the end of the annual legislative meeting, known as the National People’s Congress, since 1993. Though the answers rarely departed from the official line, it was a rare chance for journalists — including foreign ones — to ask questions directly of top leaders.

自1993年以来，中国总理在每年的全国人民代表大会结束时举行记者会。尽管总理回答问题时很少偏离官方说法，但这是让记者（包括外国记者）向高层领导人直接提问的一个难得的机会。

At past conferences, reporters have asked premiers about issues ranging from the price of vegetables in Beijing to alleged human rights abuses and the possibility of direct elections. In 2012, the news conference by China’s then-premier, Wen Jiabao, lasted three hours; journalists asked about self-immolations by Tibetans protesting Chinese rule and a political scandal engulfing Bo Xilai, the Communist Party secretary of a major city.

在以前的记者会上，记者问总理的问题包括北京的蔬菜价格、侵犯人权的指称，以及直接选举的可能性。2012年，时任中国总理温家宝举行了长达三个小时的记者会；记者们问了关于藏人自焚抗议中国统治，以及被政治丑闻围困的重庆市委书记薄熙来的问题。

The next day, Mr. Bo was dismissed from his position and was later charged with and convicted of bribery.

记者会的次日，薄熙来被免职，他后来被指控犯有受贿罪并被判刑。

Chinese officials had held up the exchanges as proof of the country’s increasing openness.

中国官员曾把这些交流视为中国日益开放的证据。

“There are always sensitive and difficult questions from journalists, and the premier always resolves them with confidence, wisdom and humor,” said a 2018 article posted on social media by an official account of the legislature. The premier’s news conference, it continued, “has become an important window for observing China’s openness and transparency. Through it, countries around the world can feel the pulse of contemporary China’s reform and opening up, and its democratic political development.”

“总会有记者提出敏感、刁钻的问题，而总理一次次用自信、睿智、幽默化解，”社交媒体上转载的全国人大官方账号描写2018年总理记者会的文章写道。文章还说，总理记者会“已成为观察中国开放和透明的重要窗口之一。世界各国都能从中触摸到当代中国改革开放和民主政治发展的脉动”。

But since Mr. Xi came to power in 2012, he has tightened controls over the press and speech. Even routine data about the economy — the heart of the premier’s portfolio — has become more and more limited, especially as China’s growth has flagged in recent years.

但自从习近平2012年上台以来，他加强了对新闻和言论的控制。就连经济数据的例行发布——那是总理职责的重要组成部分——也变得越来越有限，尤其是在中国近年来经济增长放缓的情况下。

The premier’s news conference, too, has become increasingly scripted. Reporters’ questions have long been vetted in advance, but the space for asking about sensitive issues has decreased.

总理记者会也变得越来越照本宣科。虽然记者的问题早就需要经过事先审查，但提敏感问题的空间已减少。

And the role of the premier itself has been greatly diminished. The first premier to serve under Mr. Xi, Li Keqiang, was seen as relatively liberal and had championed giving markets a greater role in the economy. In 2020, Mr. Li made headlines when he used unusually stark language to describe the plight of poor Chinese, at a time when China was promoting its success in eliminating poverty. At his annual news conference that year, he said there were still 600 million people whose income was “not even enough to rent a room in a medium-size Chinese city.”

总理本身的角色也大大削弱。在习近平手下工作的第一位总理李克强被视为相对自由派，他曾主张让市场在经济中发挥更大作用。2020年，李克强用异常严酷的语言描述了中国的贫困人口问题，当时中国正在宣传已在消除贫困上取得了成功。李克强的话成了头条新闻。在那年的总理记者会上，他说，仍有6亿人的月收入“在一个中等城市可能租房都困难”。

But over Mr. Li’s decade as premier, his influence continuously waned, as Mr. Xi promoted aides seen as more loyal to himself and emphasized security and ideology over economic growth. The current premier, Li Qiang, a former aide to Mr. Xi, replaced Li Keqiang in March last year. Li Keqiang died of a heart attack in October.

但随着习近平提拔被认为对自己更忠诚的助手，更多地强调安全和意识形态，而不是经济增长，李克强在担任总理的十年里影响力不断减弱。李克强已在去年3月卸任，由现任总理、习近平的前助手李强接替。李克强去年10月因心脏病去世。

During Li Qiang’s news conference after the congress last year, his first — and as it would turn out, likely his last — in the role, he expressed support for the private sector, amid concerns about China’s economic recovery from three years of coronavirus restrictions. But he nodded often to Mr. Xi and offered few specifics.

去年的全国人大结束后，李强在记者会上表示要支持民营企业，当时人们对中国经济从实施了三年新冠病毒防控措施后的恢复感到担忧。但他在记者会上多次引述习近平的说法，并未给出支持民营企业的具体措施。那是李强当总理后的首场记者会，现在看来很可能也是他的最后一场。

And in the year since, Mr. Li has largely kept a lower profile than his predecessors. He has attended fewer international meetings, and has flown on chartered flights, according to state media reports — not the special jets reserved for top officials generally used by previous premiers.

在那之后的一年里，李强基本上比他的前任更加低调。他参加国际会议的次数更少，据官媒报道，他出国时乘坐包机，而不是以前的总理出国时乘坐的为高级官员准备的专机。

Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said the cancellation of the news conference would erode the premier’s visibility even further. It “helps entrench the notion that there is no alternative to Xi’s leadership,” Mr. Thomas said.

亚洲协会中国分析中心研究员牛犇(Neil Thomas)说，取消总理记者会将进一步降低总理的可见度。这“有助于牢固确立这样一个观念：除了习近平的领导之外别无选择”，牛犇说。