BEIJING: China's annual high-level political meetings opened on Thursday (May 21) with a minute's silence for the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed over 4,600 lives in the country since emerging late last year.

Delayed by two months because of the outbreak, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) - a largely ceremonial advisory body - began its first session a day before the start of the country's most important legislative congress.