We promoted fairness in the judicial system. We encouraged and supported the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security in their joint special campaign to completely clear up the problem of people being held for excessively long periods of time without sentencing, an issue that has drawn a strong reaction from deputies and the general public. Specific regulations were formulated to correct and prevent the holding of suspects without sentencing for excessively long periods of time, requiring notice be given of the amount of time a suspect can be held without being charged and notice be given when that time has expired, and setting up a system for people to bring suit when an uncharged suspect has not been released after the specified period of time has elapsed and assign legal responsibility for such action. This basically cleared up longstanding cases of persons held for excessively long periods of time without being charged. In order to promote fairness in the judicial system through institutions and mechanisms, we called on judicial and procuratorial organs to address the issue beginning with the job positions and links where problems are likely to occur, make sure all institutions are sound and improve internal oversight mechanisms. The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate attached great importance to the opinions of the Standing Committee. The courts improved their oversight system and oversight measures in terms of important links such as the opening of a case, hearing of a case, enforcement of the judgment and judgment oversight and key areas such as standardization of the actions of judges. The procuratorates improved regular oversight, launched special investigations and reviews, and improved training for procuratorial staff, attaining positive results. In addition, we urged relevant authorities to effectively address the practical staffing and financial difficulties of lower-level courts and procuratorates.

III. The Work Related to NPC Deputies

Deputies to the NPC are members of the country's highest organ of state power. Doing the work related to deputies well is an important task of the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee of the 10th NPC attached great importance to the role of deputies. The Standing Committee formed and improved a set of systems and methods to support deputies in the legal exercise of their functions and powers and ensure that they are able to do so. As a result, this work has entered a new stage. During the past five years we processed 3,772 proposals and 29,323 suggestions from deputies, and issued 663 invitations to deputies to attend meetings of the Standing Committee and 1,700 invitations to participate in inspections of law enforcement and research on legislation. We organized research on special topics involving 5,354 deputies, and inspection tours with 9,000 deputies participating. We also held 14 training sessions and special topic discussion seminars attended by 1,050 deputies.

1. We gave full play to the role of the deputies to the people's congresses as an important means of upholding and improving the system of people's congresses. The system of people's congresses is China's system of political power. The deputies to the people's congresses have a broad base among the people, enabling them to reflect the opinions and demands of the people, and they exercise state power on behalf of the people. After carrying out thorough survey and research work, we formulated some guidelines on how to give still more play to the role of the deputies and improve the standing committee system in line with the guiding principles set out at the 16th CPC National Congress and the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee. In May 2005 the Central Committee approved and sent out these guidelines in the form of Document No.9, further clarifying the orientation and focus of efforts to uphold and improve the system of people's congresses and the work of the people's congresses under the new conditions. We diligently implemented the guiding principles set out in Document No.9, further deepened our awareness of the importance of doing the work related to deputies well and confirmed that an important means of upholding and improving the system of people's congresses was to give full play to that role. As a result, we formulated work documents on the activities, proposals and suggestions of deputies to promote institutionalization and standardization of the work related to deputies and define procedures for this work, which not only further strengthened their role, but also ensured that the work of the Standing Committee remained dynamic.

2. We supported deputies in the legal exercise of their duties and ensured that they are able to do so as an important measure for giving full play to their role. To meet the requirements of Document No.9, the organs of the NPC, which are the collective assistant and service provider for deputies, improved their service and guarantee work and created conditions to help deputies in the legal exercise of their duties and powers. First, in addition to continuing to do a good job holding meetings to report to deputies on the situation and sending them relevant bulletins, NPC organs sent many other types of printed materials to deputies to help them better understand the overall situation. Second, before NPC sessions deputies were organized to review and discuss important proposals and reports that would be presented and deliberated at the sessions so that the proposals and reports could be revised in light of their opinions. Third, participation of deputies in the activities of the Standing Committee was expanded, standardized and institutionalized. The number of deputies invited to participate in each meeting of the Standing Committee was increased from about 10 to about 40. The number of deputies participating in law enforcement inspections and legislative research activities was also expanded by a large margin. Fourth, in addition to continuing to organize inspection tours for deputies, beginning in 2005 special topic survey and research activities were also organized for deputies every year. This resulted in the generation of 490 reports on these activities, and many of the results contained in these reports played a positive role in making major state policy decisions. Fifth, training for deputies on how to carry out their duties was increased, and a book on the legal exercise of their duties was compiled. In addition, contact offices were set up for deputies at organs of the standing committees of provincial-level people's congresses and funding for deputy activities was increased, thus improving services for them.

3. We handled the proposals and suggestions of deputies more effectively as an important link in supporting deputies in the legal exercise of their duties and ensuring that they are able to do so. It is the legally mandated duty of the NPC, a state organ, to diligently handle the proposals and suggestions of its deputies. We have obtained substantial results in improving the way proposals and suggestions are handled.

The role of deputy proposals in legislative work was further strengthened. First, the legislative items contained in deputy proposals were fully considered in formulating long-term and annual plans for legislation. A total of 92 legislative items contained in 2,177 proposals were incorporated into these plans. Second, the leading deputies submitting proposals were invited to participate in the drafting and deliberation of corresponding draft laws, and opinions were broadly solicited from other deputies. A total of 48 legislative items contained in 1,132 proposals were deliberated and passed and many comments and suggestions of deputies were reflected in the laws that were passed. Third, where many proposals were centered around legislative items such as the Law on Food Safety, we urged the concerned authorities to draft a bill and submit it for deliberation as soon as possible. Fourth, we directly formulated draft bills by standardizing and improving deputy proposals that were fairly comprehensive and high in quality when conditions were ripe for passing such legislation. The difficulty of bringing lawsuits to court and the difficulty of ensuring compliance with court decisions generated strong resentment in society. During the Fifth Session of the 10th NPC, some members of the delegations of Hunan Province and other places submitted a proposal to revise the Civil Procedure Law and a suggested amended bill based on thorough survey and investigation work, extensive solicitation of opinions and a careful review of past experience. The decision of the Standing Committee on revising the Civil Procedure Law was formed on the basis of this proposal. This was a first in the legislative work of the Standing Committee.

New methods were adopted for handling deputy suggestions. First, we improved general analysis and instituted unified referral of suggestions. On this basis, conspicuous problems often brought up by deputies were made the focus of efforts to handle suggestions, through relevant special committees. Second, for suggestions that involved several departments, the concerned departments jointly handled them, with the main organization taking the major responsibility. Third, we improved communication with deputies and placed greater emphasis on obtaining substantive results in handling suggestions. The Standing Committee began in 2005 to listen to and deliberate annual reports on how the suggestions, criticisms and opinions of deputies were handled, and began printing and distributing the reports to all deputies. Through the concerted efforts of all sides, by 2007, 76 percent of all the problems brought up by deputies had been solved or were being seriously addressed.

The election of the deputies to the people's congresses is a great event in China's socialist democratic politics. The NPC and its Standing Committee promptly made decisions and issued guidelines based on thorough surveys and studies to ensure that the simultaneous elections to elect the next county and township people's congresses and the work of electing the deputies to the 11th NPC were successfully conducted. All localities diligently carried out the arrangements of the central authorities, upheld the leadership of the Party, gave full play to democracy, handled affairs strictly in accordance with the law, smoothly carried out county and township elections to select deputies to the new people's congresses and smoothly elected the deputies to the 11th NPC. This provided a firm organizational guarantee for upholding and improving the system of people's congresses and creating new horizons for the work of the people's congresses.

IV. More Foreign Contacts

The foreign contact work of the NPC is an important component of the country's overall diplomatic work. We stayed subservient to and continued to serve the country's overall diplomatic work, paid close attention to giving full play to the characteristics and advantages of the NPC's foreign relations work, stepped up friendly contacts with the congresses and parliaments of other countries and actively participated in the activities of international and regional parliamentary organizations, making a positive contribution to efforts to safeguard the current important period of strategic opportunities for the country's development and promote world harmony. The NPC has established mechanisms for regular exchange with the congresses and parliaments of 14 countries and the European Parliament, has established or maintains contact with the congresses and parliaments of 178 countries, has set up bilateral friendship groups with the congresses and parliaments of 98 countries, and has become a member country of 12 international and regional parliamentary organizations and an observing member of three multilateral parliamentary organizations. During the past five years the NPC has received 109 delegations led by foreign congressional or parliamentary leaders visiting China and members of the Chairperson's Council have visited foreign countries on 58 occasions. The special committees and functional organs of the Standing Committee have also engaged in a wide variety of forms of foreign contact activities with rich content. A system of joint conferences on foreign affairs work has been set up to improve overall planning and coordination for the foreign contact work of the NPC.

One important result of the foreign contact work of the 10th NPC was to set up and improve mechanisms for regular exchange with the congresses and parliaments of other countries. First, we established or improved mechanisms for regular exchange with the congresses or parliaments of the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Egypt and Brazil and the European Parliament on the basis of the work of the previous two terms of the NPC. A highly representative pattern of mechanisms for regular exchange has been formed to include neighboring countries, developing countries, developed countries and multilateral organizations on all the continents. This group of mechanisms has become an important platform for strengthening strategic dialogue and improving practical cooperation between the NPC and the congresses and parliaments of other countries. Second, through these mechanisms for regular exchange, we have made overall arrangements for exchanges and cooperation at every level and in every area between leaders, special committees and friendship groups of the NPC and their foreign counterparts so that they can carry out substantive dialogue on major issues of common concern. We have also urged all sides to comply with the legally binding documents they have signed. All this has markedly increased the breadth and depth of exchanges and cooperation. The mechanisms for regular exchange preserve the continuity and stability of exchange between the NPC and foreign congresses and parliaments and reduce the impact of the election of new congressional and parliamentary members, change in ruling party and change in leadership in other countries. With the strong support of concerned departments, the General Office of the Standing Committee also sent fulltime personnel to Chinese embassies or diplomatic corps in the above countries and regional parliamentary organizations to strengthen regular contact with their congresses and parliaments.

In our foreign contact work, we always bore in mind the overriding task of creating an excellent international environment for the country's efforts to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, vividly demonstrated the great achievements we had made in reform and opening up, fully described the socialist path with Chinese characteristics, let everyone know about the characteristics and advantages of our system of people's congresses and fully explained China's path of peaceful development. We also strengthened mutual political trust, developed practical cooperation and promoted overall development of the relations between China and other countries. We made use of all sorts of venues and adopted various forms depending on the situation in each country to painstakingly explain our position on issues affecting China's core interests such as the questions of Taiwan and Tibet to increase understanding and support concerning these issues among the congresses and parliaments, governments, legislators and ordinary people of other countries and to deepen the political base for relations between China and other countries.

Over the past five years, the Standing Committee also ratified 74 treaties and agreements concluded between China and other countries or international treaties to which China agreed to abide, and decided on and approved the hiring or dismissal of a number of employees of state organs.

V. Self-Improvement of the Standing Committee

The Standing Committee, a permanent organ of the NPC, has been assigned important responsibilities by the Constitution and laws. Intensifying the Standing Committee's self-improvement efforts is extremely important to getting the NPC and its Standing Committee to play their role as the highest organ of state power, a working body fulfilling its responsibilities in accordance with the law and a representative body in close contact with the people.

The Standing Committee fully took into consideration the realities of the work of the NPC during the past five years while keeping self-improvement high on the agenda. First, we carefully studied and gained a thorough understanding of the guiding principles set out at the 16th and 17th CPC National Congresses, firmly established the concept of giving high priority to the Party, politics, the overall situation, the people, and the law and always applied the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics to guide and promote our work. In addition, we became more conscientious and resolute in upholding and improving the system of people's congresses and in following and developing the socialist path with Chinese characteristics. Second, we formulated 13 support documents touching on six different areas related to the implementation of Document No.9 of the CPC Central Committee on the basis of a review of past experience, promoting the institutionalization and standardization of the work of the Standing Committee. Third, we attached great importance to survey and research efforts, paid close attention to actual conditions on the ground, to lower-level organizations and to the masses and attached great importance to ensuring clean and efficient government, thus improving the work style of the Standing Committee. Fourth, we worked hard to strengthen our ability to carry out our duties in accordance with the law and improve our actual performance in doing so. We staged 30 special topic lectures to enhance our knowledge of the law and modern science and humanities in line with the legislative and oversight work of the Standing Committee, markedly improving the deliberations and work performance of the Standing Committee. Fifth, we conscientiously accepted the oversight by NPC deputies and the masses, improved the system for releasing information and the work of reporting on sessions, did a good job operating the NPC website, the People's Congresses Journal and the television program "The NPC on the Law" and started live broadcasting of meetings of the Standing Committee on the Internet, substantially increasing the transparency of the work of the Standing Committee. The