Motions, Advice Reflect People's Concerns

The closing meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 11, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

By deliberating on various work reports and making thousands of suggestions, national lawmakers and political advisers have put into practice China's form of democracy at the just concluded two sessions.

Over the course of roughly a week, nearly 3,000 deputies to the National People's Congress and around 2,000 members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference gathered in Beijing to perform their duties, including deliberating on legislative items and reviewing and discussing a series of work reports, in a bid to create common ground and cater to the public interest.

They raised people's expectations for a better life, as well as issues of public concerns, so that the public will of the country's 1.4 billion people is incorporated into the top-level design of national development. In-depth deliberations and heated discussions have taken place, focusing on a wide range of topics, such as income distribution, education, medical care, housing, elder care and child care.

At the CPPCC session, national political advisers made about 6,000 proposals and suggestions, mainly on economic, political, cultural, social and ecological issues, according to the CPPCC.

NPC deputies had also submitted 487 motions by Tuesday noon－the deadline for motions－with 474 related to legislation and 13 to supervision. Among the legislative motions, 19 were related to constitutional laws, 55 to civil and commercial laws, 155 to administrative laws, 105 to economic laws, 64 to social laws, 39 to criminal laws and the remainder to procedural laws, according to information released on Thursday by the secretariat of the NPC session.

Apart from motions, deputies also made about 8,000 suggestions on various sectors, such as more balanced regional growth, a stable and healthy digital economy, carbon-reduction policies and better healthcare services, according to the secretariat.

The final version of the Government Work Report, of which the draft version was delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on March 5, also had 92 changes in text before being put to a vote at the closing meeting of the NPC session on Friday.

Xiang Dong, deputy head of the Research Office of the State Council, said at a news briefing on Friday afternoon that these changes have reflected most opinions and suggestions made by NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members. Most of the opinions are on how to stabilize the economy, push innovation and improve people's livelihoods, he said.

Zhang Shuhua, a national political adviser and head of the Center of Socialist Democracy Research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the two sessions is a lively practice of China's democracy, and also serves as a window for the outside to see how China's democracy is being carried out.

Zhang Xingying, another national political adviser, said that his personal experience shows China's democracy really works.

Before this year's session, he has made 11 proposals. All of them have been carefully studied by the relevant government departments, as he has received feedback on each.

"Many were absorbed by decision-making bodies relatively quickly," said Zhang, who is also deputy head of the National Satellite Meteorological Center at the China Meteorological Administration.

For example, last year, Zhang submitted a proposal to increase investment in the construction of a carbon monitoring and evaluation system, which was later written into government policies.

In September, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment conducted carbon monitoring in 16 cities, and of five key industries and 11 companies. In December, the China Meteorological Administration released a list of the first 60 stations in the new national greenhouse gases observation network.

"This shows the vitality of China's democracy," he said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.