China's parliament to begin annual session from March 3

Beijing: China's annual parliament session will open next week for the first time since President Xi Jinping was named "core leader" of the ruling Communist Party last year, placing him on par with party founder Mao Zedong.

The National People's Congress - with a membership of 2,987 members - and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - an advisory body comprising 2,229 nominated members - will meet for a fortnight from March 3.

A national development framework with some new elements is likely to be approved during the sessions, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

The first among the keywords and phrases that will be important during the two sessions will be "the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core", it said.

Xi, 63, heads the Communist Party of China, besides being the country's president since 2013 and the chairman of the military.

The term "core leader" was synonymous with the highest-ranking leaders of the party. Only party founder Mao, reformist leader Deng Xiaoping and his successor Jiang Zemin were regarded "core leaders" of their generations.

Even though Jiang "retired" after a 10-year tenure, he continued to head the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) - the high-command of the Chinese military - for two more years, undermining the powers of his successor Hu Jintao.

When Hu retired by the end of 2012, Xi was made the head of all the three power centres.

Xi was conferred the "core leader" status by CPC in October last year as he neared the end of his first five-year term. The status is expected to reinforce his powerbase during his second term.

The other keyword to be followed during the two sessions, according to the report, would be the implementation of the 13th Five-Year Plan, set in motion last year with a series of reforms to address the slowdown of the world's second-largest economy.

China has drawn such plans since 1953 to map strategies for overall economic and social development. Chinese economy last year grew at 6.7 per cent, the lowest in 26 years.

Premier Li Keqiang is expected to announce the GDP growth target for this year in his report to be submitted to the NPC. The government is also likely to announce the defence budget for this year during the sessions.