Analysis | China's premier 'fails to grab headlines' in the shadow of powerful president Xi

The annual legislative session is usually the premier's time to take centre stage, opening the meetings with a state-of-the-union-style policy speech and capping the 10-day gathering with a televised press conference.

Yesterday was Premier Li Keqiang's third encounter with journalists from the world's major media outlets in the Great Hall of the People, but he failed to live up to expectations.

The world had expected the most important news conference of the year by the leader of the world's second-largest economy to generate big news about China's development, or present Li's view on future national directions - as those by his two prominent predecessors did.

Former premiers Zhu Rongji and Wen Jiabao answered questions skilfully in their post-NPC pressers, deploying charisma and style to answer even the unscripted queries.

Li did appear to be more straightforward and more confident yesterday than in his two previous appearances. He tried to be more philosophical and address questions with a greater sense of humour. But his comments offered no fresh perspectives, and no big news.

Zhu and Wen were known to assert their views on contentious issues, either out of their political beliefs or simply with image-making in mind. In contrast, Li tried to sidestep any controversial questions.

For instance, when an American journalist asked him to comment on a recent hard-hitting independent documentary on the country's air pollution problems, Li responded with a typical statement of government policy.