People’s congress system displays tremendous vitality, strength

The people’s congress system has been brought into full play in the past five years and displayed tremendous vitality and strengths in practice, according to a report submitted to the National People’s Congress (NPC) on March 7.

The system serves as China’s foundational political system that underpins the governance system and capacity, read the work report of the 13th NPC Standing Committee at the end of its five-year term.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the 13th NPC Standing Committee, presented the report to a plenary meeting of the first session of the 14th NPC.

According to Li, a highlight of the work of the national legislature was adopting the amendment to the Constitution at the first session of the 13th NPC in 2018.

The past five years have seen the Standing Committee ensuring the implementation of the Constitution and upholding its authority and sanctity.

As part of the efforts, the Standing Committee revised the Electoral Law and submitted the draft revisions of the NPC Organic Law to the NPC for deliberation, to optimize the organizational and electoral systems of people’s congresses and their operating mechanisms.

The draft amendment to the Legislation Law submitted to the ongoing annual session for deliberation is expected to improve the legislative system and mechanism and enhance the quality and efficiency of legislation.

In addition, the top legislature has maintained the constitutional order in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) by enacting the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR and adopting a decision on improving the electoral system of Hong Kong SAR, which have fully demonstrated the central government exercises overall jurisdiction over the SAR and provided a strong legal foundation for Hong Kong’s entry into a new stage.

In promoting high-quality development, the Standing Committee formulated a raft of laws, including the milestone Civil Code. The Foreign Investment Law and the Hainan Free Trade Port Law were enacted to support a new round of high-standard opening up.

Legislative work in environmental protection was stepped up to promote ecological advancement, with the Law on the Prevention and Control of Soil Pollution, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Noise Pollution and the Wetland Conservation Law formulated over the past five years.

With these legislative efforts, the Standing Committee improved the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics and made good laws to promote development and ensure good governance, Li said.

During the period, the national legislature enacted 47 laws, revised 111 ones, and passed 53 decisions on legal questions and other major issues.

Regarding fulfilling the duty of oversight, the report said that over the past five years, the Standing Committee heard and deliberated the first comprehensive reports on the management of state-owned assets, the first report on financial work, and the first work report by the National Supervisory Commission. It also conducted the first special inquiries into the work reports of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

In the course of exercising oversight, the Standing Committee ensured that the powers of all state organs and their employees were subject to oversight and checks.

While carrying out inspections into the implementation of laws, the Standing Committee introduced third-party evaluations and adopted various measures like random inspections, unannounced visits, big-data analysis, and questionnaire surveys. It also delegated local people’s congresses to do inspections nationwide.

During inspections into the implementation of laws concerning environmental protection, nearly 900,000 questionnaires were gathered, according to the report.

The Standing Committee has set a plan for the legislative work this year, saying that it will draw up the legislative plan for the next five years, enhance oversight over state-owned asset management, and step up training deputies.

Source: Xinhua News Agency