Chinanews, Hong Kong, Feb. 26 – The upcoming National People’s Congress (NPC) session and the session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are important meetings in that they will be the last sessions under the current government tenure. In light of this, the government will summarise its achievements and lessons learned during the past few years. In addition, the government will outline the important matters that need to be attended to in the year of 2007, including preparation work for the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army, and launching of the moon probe satellites, Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao reported.
The newspaper says that after taking office, the current government has issued many new policies that aim to benefit the public in every of the NPC and CPPCC National Committee Session. The policies include those on the abolishment of agricultural tax, education, and school tuition and fees. It is expected that during the upcoming NPC and CPPCC meetings, the government will issue more policies to benefit the public this year.
Last year, Chinese government punished some corrupt officials who had harmed the interest of the public in areas of drug administration, social security system, and housing system. The public expects that this year, the government will do more things to correct the evil practices in areas that are closely linked with public interest so that social welfare system can move in a sound track.
Since the Tenth National People’s Congress, the roles of the NPC as the top legislature and CPPCC as the top advisory body have become more important than before. The current tenure of NPC has made outstanding achievement in its lawmaking work. It has drafted the property law after soliciting ideas from all walks of life in society. The law has been revised and discussed several times before it will be submitted to the NPC and CPPCC for approval. In drafting the law, the NPC has tried every means to ensure that the legislative process is transparent and open to the public, which indicates that China has made another step forward in its legal system building.
The CPPCC has also begun to shake off its image merely as a “political vase”. After the central government issued related documents to outline CPPCC’s work functions, its role in political consultation and democratic supervision has been strengthened. Chinese democratic parties have played an increasingly important role in the government’s decision-making process and their job has become more important in helping the ruling party (CPC) to make decisions more democratically and scientifically.
