5. Effectively Promoting Self-Improvement

Working on self-improvement helps to ensure that the NPC and its standing committee are able to properly exercise their functions and powers and give full play to their role. This Standing Committee attaches great importance to self-improvement and keeps ideological and political development high on its agenda. It maintains the correct political orientation and uses it to guide all the work of the NPC.

This Standing Committee held its first meeting on March 19 last year, the day after the First Session of the 11th NPC was successfully concluded. The requirement to maintain the correct political orientation in the work of the NPC was firmly established as the first order of business at that meeting. Time was then set aside for careful study of the guiding principles of the 17th National Congress of the CPC and General Secretary Hu Jintao's important speeches to strengthen ideological consensus and improve understanding. Members of the Standing Committee and the special committees all agree that the people's congresses and their standing committees are organs of state power and extremely vital political institutions. Maintaining the correct political orientation is essential to the success of the work of the people's congresses. The most fundamental aspect of this effort is to organically integrate the leadership of the Party, the position of the people as the masters of the country and the rule of law, and the core of this effort is to uphold the leadership of the Party. The people's congresses and their standing committees exercise their functions and powers and decide on issues collectively in accordance with the law, so maintaining the correct political orientation depends on each and every person involved. To keep to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and uphold and improve the system of people's congresses in their work, we must more fully recognize the essential differences between the system of people's congresses and Western capitalist countries' system of political power.

First, we must fully understand the essential differences between China's people's congresses and Western congresses and parliaments. China's system of political parties is a system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, not a Western-style multiparty system. The CPC is at the core of the country's leadership and the ruling party, while the democratic parties are participating parties. Deputies to the people's congresses representing counties and townships are elected directly by their constituencies. Deputies to the congresses above the county level are elected indirectly by the people's congress at the next lower level, who then form delegations on the basis of their constituencies to attend sessions of their people's congresses. The people's congresses have no congressional party groups, and they do not carry out activities on the basis of sectors of society. No seats are assigned on the basis of parties in either people's congresses, their standing committees or their special committees. All deputies to the people's congresses, members of their standing committees and members of their special committees shoulder the great trust of the people and fulfill their responsibilities to serve the people under the leadership of the CPC in accordance with the law, no matter whether they are Communists, members of the democratic parties or persons without party affiliation, and they all share the same fundamental interests.

Second, we must be fully aware of the essential differences between the people's congresses' relationship to the governments, the people's courts and the people's procuratorates and the relationships between state organs of Western countries. The people's congresses exercise state power in a unified way, and the governments, the people's courts and the people's procuratorates are all created by them and are responsible to them and subject to their oversight. Although China's state organs have different responsibilities, they all adhere to the line, principles and policies of the Party, enforce the Constitution and laws within their respective jurisdictions under the leadership of the CPC and work to build and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. The system of people's congresses is not a Western system with the separation of the three powers. The people's congresses decide on the major principles and policies of the state by formulating laws and passing resolutions in accordance with the stands of the Party and the will of the people. They oversee and support the governments in carrying out their administrative functions in accordance with the law. They also oversee and support the people's courts and the people's procuratorates in exercising their judicial functions fairly. They ensure that state organs carry out their work in a coordinated and effective manner. In addition, they use the power granted to them by the people to truly further their interests.

Third, we must be fully aware of the essential differences between deputies to the NPC and members of Western parliaments and congresses. Deputies come from every region, ethnic group and sector of society of the country, and there is at least one deputy from each ethnic minority group no matter how small its population is. Deputies are therefore broadly representative and they do not represent a single party or group as members of Western parliaments and congresses do. Deputies live among the people and maintain close ties with them. They all hold posts in their respective fields of endeavor and fully understand how the principles and policies of the Party and the government and the Constitution and laws are implemented and the practical problems of daily life. Deputies exercise their lawful duties and powers collectively at meetings, rather than each deputy addressing problems directly and separately from other deputies. Functional organs of the standing committees of the people's congresses at all levels collectively advise, assist and serve the deputies.

Members of the Standing Committee and the special committees all strongly believe that the key to maintaining the correct political orientation in the work of the NPC is to uphold the leadership of the Party. The CPC is the core of the leadership for building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Leadership by the Party can only be strengthened and in no way weakened. Through thorough studies and discussions, we have gained a more thorough understanding of the important points made by Comrade Deng Xiaoping, including: "Without the leadership of the Party a big country like China would be torn by strife and incapable of accomplishing anything." "China and its socialist modernization must be led by the Communist Party. There can be no wavering from this principle. Without it China would regress and become divided and chaotic, and modernization would become impossible." We have therefore become more purposeful and resolute in upholding the Party's leadership, in keeping to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and in adhering to and improving the system of people's congresses. Through the work of the NPC, we must ensure that the stands of the Party become the will of the state through legally stipulated procedures and that the personnel recommended by Party organizations become the leaders of the organs of state power through legally stipulated procedures. The work of the NPC must all be conducive to strengthening and improving the leadership of the Party, consolidating its position as the ruling party and ensuring that it is able to lead the people in effectively running the country.

Members of the Standing Committee and the special committees all agree that the political development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the only correct path that was chosen by the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC, best suits the conditions of China, and guides the development of socialist democratic politics in China. Deepening our political restructuring means constantly promoting self-improvement and self-development of the socialist political system including the system of people's congresses. We must draw on the achievements of all cultures, including their political achievements, but we will never simply copy the system of Western countries or introduce a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation, a system with the separation of the three powers or a bicameral system.

Over the last year, we improved our competence, work style and institutions while also focusing on our ideological and political development.

First, we improved training for deputies on how to carry out their duties. Members of the Standing Committee and the special committees were brought together to learn about the organizational structure, functions and powers and rules for discussion of the NPC and other areas of knowledge closely related to their legislative and oversight work. After each Standing Committee meeting, special topic lectures were held related to its agenda and these proved very effective. In addition to study sessions organized for newly elected deputies, we focused on training for deputies on how to carry out their duties. Eight training courses were held attended by over 1,300 deputies.

Second, we revised our working methods. Most members of the Standing Committee and the special committees, who had long worked in Party and government departments, adapted to their new positions in the NPC quickly. They performed their duties in accordance with the law, spent more time and energy than they did in their former positions in investigating actual conditions, meeting with the general public and visiting lower-level organizations, strengthened their investigation and study efforts and compiled a number of valuable reports, thus improving the quality of deliberations and providing reference information that helped in the formulation of major policy decisions of the Party and government.

Third, we improved our working systems. We revised and improved four documents concerning our work on the basis of a careful review of practical experience, including rules for discussion in the Chairperson's Council, and conducted studies on how best to modify the Organic Law of the National People's Congress, the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses and rules for discussion in the NPC Standing Committee.

Organs of the NPC launched a campaign to thoroughly study and put into practice the Scientific Outlook on Development. In order to serve scientific development and improve their role as collective adviser and assistant for deputies, they conscientiously worked to resolve major problems, and established a sound permanent mechanism for improving their work. They improved the overall quality of their cadres, focusing on increasing their competence. They encouraged their employees to devote themselves to study, became more harmonious, and strove to fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of their employees, producing positive changes in their overall situation.

Fellow Deputies,

The achievements of the Standing Committee last year were made under the correct leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as General Secretary and are the result of the hard work of the deputies, members of the Standing Committee and the special committees, and the employees of the organs of the NPC. Credit is also due to the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate for their assistance and to the local people's congresses and their standing committees and the general public for their support. On behalf of the Standing Committee, I would now like to express my sincerest thanks to all of them.

We are also clearly aware that more than a few aspects of our work need to be improved. First, we need to focus more on key areas and concentrate more on key problems in carrying out our work in order to improve the overall quality of the work of the NPC and make it more target-focused. Second, we need to urge the relevant authorities to formulate supporting regulations for laws in a timely manner to effectively resolve the problem of laws that cannot be effectively enforced due to lack of supporting regulations. Third, we need to improve services to deputies to help them better carry out their duties. Fourth, we need to further coordinate the efforts of special committees so that they can function more efficiently. Fifth, we need to improve our publicity efforts related to the law, make state organs more purposeful about carrying out their functions in accordance with the law and enhance respect for the law and increase awareness of the legal system among the general public. We will conscientiously accept the oversight of the people, earnestly listen to the opinions of deputies and carefully study new situations and problems that arise in the development of democracy and the legal system to constantly strengthen and improve the work of the Standing Committee and more effectively exercise the functions and powers granted to us by the Constitution and laws.

Major Tasks for This Year

The year 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China and it will be a crucial year in terms of responding to the major challenges presented by changes in the international and domestic environments and developing all our country's undertakings. The general requirements for the work of the Standing Committee are as follows: We must faithfully follow the guiding principles of the 17th National Congress of the CPC, the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee and the Central Economic Work Conference. We must take Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents as our guide and thoroughly apply the Scientific Outlook on Development. We must organically integrate the leadership of the Party, the position of the people as masters of the country and the rule of law, focus on the overall work of the Party and the government in carrying out our functions and powers, work to develop the legal system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, strive to promote steady and rapid economic development and social harmony and stability, intensify efforts to ensure effective enforcement of the Constitution and laws, and work to bring the work of the NPC up to a new level.

1. Taking Decisive Steps Toward Establishing a Legal System of Socialism With Chinese Characteristics

The CPC Central Committee clearly set the goal of establishing a legal system of socialism with Chinese characteristics by 2010. This year will be crucial for efforts to attain this goal. We must both formulate new legislation and revise and eliminate unsuitable portions of existing laws while working to improve the quality of legislation in accordance with the guiding principles of the 17th National Congress of the CPC so we can take decisive steps toward establishing a legal system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

First, we must promptly formulate new laws and make revisions in existing laws that will form the framework for the legal system, focusing on improving legislation concerned with social issues while continuing to improve legislation concerned with economic, political and cultural issues. Legislative work on the agenda for this year includes the following. We will formulate a social security law, social welfare law, law on tort liability, law on administrative coercion, law on arbitration of disputes concerning contracted rural land, law on mental health and law on national defense mobilization. We will also revise the Law on State Compensation, the Law on Protecting State Secrets, the Electoral Law, the Organic Law of Villager Committees, the Land Administration Law, the Postal Law and the Statistics Law. We will work to improve organization and coordination in legislative work, make legislation more scientific and democratic, expand orderly participation of the general public in the legislative process, improve research and scientific verification to formulate legislation, and work to obtain a broad consensus of opinion to improve the quality of legislation. We will continue to urge relevant authorities to promptly formulate supporting regulations to ensure effective enforcement of laws.

Second, we need to finish the work of revising unsuitable provisions to improve existing legislation. There are 231 laws currently in effect in China, and a number of these have areas that still have room for improvement. There are three main categories of laws requiring improvement. 1) There are some laws which were formulated in the 1980s or early 1990s and contain provisions that no longer meet the requirements for developing the socialist market economy. 2) There are inconsistencies and gaps in laws formulated at different times. 3) Some laws are difficult to apply and the state is unable to enforce compliance with them. In light of this situation, the Standing Committee last year made arrangements for the work of revising unsuitable portions of the existing laws. We need to finish this work before the end of this year. We will carefully study and make a comprehensive analysis of suggestions made by relevant parties and proceed in order of importance and urgency. We will handle this task in accordance with the different types of treatment required, i.e. revision, rescinding, legal interpretation or formulation of new provisions, to develop a scientific, consistent and harmonious legal system.