Zhao Leji, 68, was not among the senior party leaders in the Great Hall of the People, for the first time in almost two decades since a member of the politburo standing committee, the party’s top echelon, was not at the high-profile event.

“Chairman Zhao Leji requested leave from this afternoon’s meeting due to a respiratory infection,” said Li Hongzhong, vice-chairman of the national people’s congress (NPC) standing committee, as he opened the plenary session in the Chinese capital.

“I was entrusted… to preside,” he told more than 2,000 delegates gathered in the hall’s main auditorium for the parliamentary meetings, set to conclude today.

The announcement was a departure from the Communist Party’s customary secrecy regarding the health of senior leaders.

“It’s certainly unusual for China’s NPC speaker to miss the single most important occasion of the year,” said Wen-Ti Sung, an analyst of Chinese politics at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.

“This kind of occurrence is extremely rare.”

Zhao did not attend either the closing session of China’s national political advisory body or the third meeting of the presidium of the national people’s congress (NPC), state media have said, with no reason given for his absence.

Until then, Zhao, a trusted confidant of President Xi Jinping who served five years as the head of the Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog, had attended all his scheduled public meetings, state media summaries showed.

Li, his deputy, was “entrusted” to chair the meeting of the presidium or executive committee, the official People’s Daily newspaper said.

Li, 68, sits on the 24-member politburo, the party’s second-highest rung of power.

A member of the politburo standing committee has not missed a major NPC plenary session since 2006, when former vice-premier Huang Ju was away from all the annual parliament sessions as he was ill in hospital, a government spokesman said at the time.

Huang, who was China’s sixth-ranking leader, died in 2007, but authorities gave no cause of death.

The Communist Party almost never divulges details of the health of top leaders or addresses concerns about their age, making it difficult for analysts to track political dynamics.

All leaders in the politburo standing committee except Xi are expected to retire in 2027, when the next Communist Party leadership reshuffle is due.

Zhao was absent from a January 2022 study session of the 24-member politburo chaired by Xi, state media footage showed.

No reason was given for his absence and state media did not list those who attended.

In 2022, Xi’s immediate predecessor, Hu Jintao, was unexpectedly escorted out of the Great Hall of the People by two stewards during the closing ceremony of the previous Communist Party congress.

He was “not feeling well” and had recently taken time to “recuperate”, state media said at the time.

The incident was highly unusual given the meticulous stage management of such events.

Video footage was widely shared on Twitter but did not appear on China’s heavily censored social media.

Parliament duties

Besides chairing China’s national parliament, Zhao heads its standing committee, which meets every two months to review drafts of new legislation and approve personnel decisions.

On Saturday, Zhao delivered an annual report on legislative work at the second plenary session of the NPC, also held in the Great Hall.

He attended last Wednesday’s opening session of parliament and met NPC delegates from the southwestern province of Sichuan, state media said.

For decades, Zhao climbed the party ranks in his native province of Qinghai in the northwest before being transferred to Shaanxi province in 2007, where Xi has strong personal and family connections.

He then headed the party’s central organisation department overseeing personnel appointments and promotions, before taking the role of top disciplinary chief.

In his current role, Zhao meets regularly with visiting foreign lawmakers, including the speaker of South Korea’s parliament, Woo Won-shik, last month.

Last year, he led a Chinese delegation to North Korea on a goodwill visit, becoming the most senior Chinese leader to visit the country since 2018.