Beijing, Mar 11 (PTI) The annual meeting of the Chinese parliament ended with rumours swirling around the absence of its chairman Zhao Leji and concerns over the slowing economy amid Trump’s tariff war as well as sluggish domestic consumption.

Curtains came down on the week-long annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Tuesday as about 3,000 lawmakers much on the expected lines endorsed the government work report, the budget, besides the 2025 plan for national economic and social development.

The annual session attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who also heads the Communist Party and the country's military, ended on a note of uncertainty over the absence of Zhao since Monday.

However, it was officially clarified Zhao, 68, was absent because of “respiratory tract infection”.

For the first time in recent history, the chairman of China’s top legislative body was absent at the closing of its parliamentary meeting, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

It is also the first time in decades that the NPC closing meeting was not attended by all Politburo Standing Committee members, it said.

On Monday, Zhao was also absent from the closing of the annual session of the advisory body of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which also holds its meeting every year along the NPC.

Zhao, chairman of the NPC and former secretary of the powerful anti-corruption body, is ranked third after Xi and Premier Li Qiang in the hierarchy of the powerful seven-member Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

However, CPC’s power structures declined in stature under Xi who is in his unprecedented third five-year term following his designation as the core leader of the party, next only to the party founder Mao Zedong.

For the second year, Premier Li's annual press conference, a long-standing practice at the end of the NPC meeting, has been scrapped.

It has been a political norm for all the top leaders of the CPC to attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the annual NPC and CPPCC sessions, known as the two sessions since the 1980s, as political endorsement of the national legislative and political advisory sessions, according to the report.

The annual event also serves as a platform for party and government bosses to hear the views of Chinese elites outside the party regarding China’s most pressing issues.

The parliamentary session also ended on a note of concern over Trump's tariff war against China and his strategic pivot against Beijing with overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who shared a close alliance with Xi over the years, especially after his Ukraine war.

While negotiating with Trump to end the Ukraine war, Putin is also constantly in touch with Xi, assuring his commitment to continue China-Russia friendship.

Amid the hype over China’s big strides with breakthroughs like DeepSeek and other AI tools, concerns remain over China’s economic slowdown.

The second-largest economy last year barely managed to reach the target of five per cent, touching USD 19 trillion while the government has fixed the same target for 2025.

Amid a hostile strategic environment and to reduce reliance on exports, China is making efforts to boost domestic consumption, which remained stagnant due to the prolonged property crisis, hurting the consumer and business confidence.

The government's steps to boost consumer sentiment include easing borrowing limits with rebates for consumers to trade in old cars and appliances for new ones.

To boost the private sector hit hard by anti-monopoly crackdowns, Xi met business leaders, including Alibaba founder Jack Ma, and assured them of a business-friendly environment to increase private investments. PTI KJV PY PY PY