VI. We strengthened contact with local people's congresses and worked together with them to improve and develop the work of people's congresses.

Properly carrying out the work of people's congresses under the new conditions requires the joint effort of the NPC and local people's congresses. In recent years, the Standing Committee has laid stress on maintaining closer working relations with local people's congresses, strengthening work coordination, and developing work exchanges, and has been able to achieve fresh progress in building up synergy in the whole system.

1. We conducted research on the work and development of people's congresses at county and township levels.

The Standing Committee made it an important task to conduct research on the work of local people's congresses and to improve and advance their work. In line with the principle of improving oneself by reviewing and learning from past experiences, we conducted research on the work and development of county- and township-level people's congresses.

Study groups led by members of the Chairperson's Council visited county- and township-level people's congresses to obtain hands-on information about their work and development and discussed with them new ideas and good approaches for improving their work. The working bodies of the Standing Committee formed seven teams to conduct research on the work and development of county- and township-level people's congresses in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, which then produced a number of valuable reports. The China Society for Theoretical Research on the System of People's Congresses also organized relevant seminars, and contributed comments and suggestions in this regard.

On the basis of these studies, we are planning to draw up guiding documents to help strengthen the work and development of people's congresses at county and township levels and to revise and improve relevant laws in due course.

2. We increased efforts to provide study and training sessions and develop work exchanges.

The Standing Committee held four study sessions for leading members of the standing committees of county-level people's congresses, which were attended by over 1,100 county-level standing committee chairpersons or vice-chairpersons from Jilin, Tibet, and nine other provinces and autonomous regions, and achieved positive results.

The Standing Committee invited leading members of the standing committees of provincial-level people's congresses to attend all its meetings as non-voting observers, listened carefully to their comments and suggestions, and organized briefings on a regular basis to promptly inform them about the work of the Standing Committee.

We held a national seminar on local legislation to summarize and exchange ideas about the good experiences and methods in the legislative work of local people's congresses. We invited leading members of local people's congresses' legislative affairs bodies to observe meetings of the Standing Committee. The special committees and working bodies of the Standing Committee strengthened their contact and exchange with relevant bodies of local people's congresses through forums and training sessions.

At the same time, local people's congresses actively supported the work of the NPC, and did a great deal to assist the Standing Committee in carrying out law enforcement inspections, conducting research for pending legislation, ensuring services for deputies, and carrying out foreign relations work, thus greatly helping raise the whole work of people's congresses to a new level.

3. We solicited comments and suggestions from local people's congresses and NPC deputies on the work of the Standing Committee and on the drafting of this work report.

The General Office of the Standing Committee organized 12 research teams. These teams, each led by a leading official at the ministerial level, held forums in localities during which they solicited opinions from leading members of the standing committees of 31 provincial-level people's congresses and from 549 NPC deputies from 35 delegations.

The valuable comments and suggestions we collected during our studies are an expression of the concern and expectations that local people's congresses and NPC deputies have for the work of the NPC, and have been instrumental in helping us improve our work.

VII. We coordinated our foreign relations, information and publicity, and self-improvement work to better serve the central task of economic development as well as the overall interests of the country.

We actively developed contacts with other countries. Focusing on China's national development strategy and its overall interests in reform and opening up, we fully utilized the characteristics and advantages of the NPC's foreign relations and fully advanced friendly exchanges and cooperation with the congresses and parliaments of other countries in order to serve the need of China's overall diplomatic work.

First, we deepened the mechanism for regular exchanges. We successfully held the eighth meeting of the cooperation council consisting of the NPC and the Russian Federation Council, and established the new China-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee consisting of the NPC, the Russian Federation Council, and the State Duma of Russia. We resumed regular exchanges with the Senate of the United States; advanced regular exchanges with the national parliaments and congresses of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Canada, Australia, and Chile as well as with the European Parliament; and established a mechanism for regular exchanges with the State Great Hural of Mongolia. (More)


Full Text: Work report of NPC Standing Committee (9)