Fellow Deputies,

The achievements of the NPC Standing Committee last year were the result of the unity, cooperation, and hard work of all NPC deputies, and the members of the Standing Committee and the special committees under the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as General Secretary as well as the active cooperation and common efforts of local people's congresses at all levels and their standing committees. 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 general public for their full support. On behalf of the NPC Standing Committee, I would like to express our sincere thanks to all of them.

We are also keenly aware that some areas of our work, such as making use of the role of NPC deputies, improving the quality of legislation, and making oversight more effective, still fall considerably short of the expectations of the people and demands of deputies. We will willingly accept the oversight of the people, listen to deputies' suggestions with an open mind, constantly improve our work, and make better use of the roles of the NPC and its Standing Committee as the highest organs of state power, working bodies that carry out their responsibilities in accordance with the law, and representative bodies in close contact with the masses.

Major Tasks for This Year

The year 2010 is the last year for implementing the 11th Five-Year Plan and an important year for accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development and continuing to make progress in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The general requirements for the work of the Standing Committee are as follows: to comprehensively implement the guiding principles of the 17th National Party Congress, the third and fourth plenary sessions of the 17th CPC Central Committee, and the Central Economic Work Conference; take Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents as our guide; thoroughly apply the Scientific Outlook on Development; intimately integrate the leadership of the Party, the position of the people as masters of the country, and the rule of law; adhere to the guiding principles of the Third Session of the 11th NPC; focus on the overall work of the Party and the government in carrying out our functions and powers in accordance with the law; strive to improve the quality of legislation; ensure that the goal of formulating a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics is reached on schedule; make oversight more effective; promote implementation of the Central Committee's major policies and arrangements; and make new, greater contributions to promoting steady and rapid economic development, accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development, and maintaining social harmony and stability.

1. Ensuring that the goal of formulating a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics is reached on schedule

Formulating a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics by 2010 was the overall target set at the 15th National Party Congress for our legislative work in this new historical period. Reaching this target on schedule is our bounden duty and the primary task of our legislative work and a top priority of the NPC's work this year. While steadfastly improving the quality of legislation, we need to redouble our efforts and work vigorously to promptly enact laws that form the framework of the legal system, lose no time in revising laws that are not suited to economic and social development, continue to improve social legislation, give greater emphasis to legislation supporting a green economy and a low-carbon economy, complete the work of sifting through existing laws and regulations, and ensure that a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics is established on schedule, thereby successfully accomplishing this historic mission entrusted to us by the Party and the people.

1) We will promptly formulate new laws. We will finish deliberating and revising the draft Social Security Law and further improve the legal system concerning social security to dispel the people's worries and better maintain social harmony and stability. We will continue to deliberate the draft Law on Administrative Enforcement and further promote government administration in accordance with the law to better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of our citizens. We will submit for deliberation the draft Valued Added Tax Law and the draft Law on Vehicle and Vessel Tax, further improve the system of fiscal and tax laws, and standardize the management of tax revenue. We will also research and formulate a People's Mediation Law, Law on Education and Correction of Illegal Acts, Law on the Application of Laws to Civil Relationships Involving Foreign Interests, and Law on the Protection of Our Natural Heritage. We will urge relevant authorities to promptly draw up drafts for laws, including the Law on Basic Medical and Health Care and the Social Assistance Law.

2) We will promptly revise some existing laws. We will revise the Law on Deputies to the People's Congress and the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees, and constantly promote the self-improvement and self-development of the socialist political system with Chinese characteristics. We will revise the Administrative Supervision Law to further improve the mechanism for checking and overseeing state power and strive to prevent and punish corruption at the source. We will revise the Budget Law to ensure that budgets are more complete and are implemented in a more standardized way and overseen more strictly. We will continue to deliberate the draft amendment to the Law on State Compensation, research revisions to the Land Administration Law, Forest Law, Water and Soil Conservation Law, Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Diseases, and Law on Officers in the Reserve Forces.

3) We will make legislation more scientific and democratic. We will make progress this year on the foundations of what we have already accomplished. First, we will ensure NPC deputies fully play their role in legislative work. Regardless of whether we are debating and making decisions concerning legislative items or drawing up and deliberating draft laws, we will earnestly study and accept suggestions expressed in deputies' bills and invite concerned deputies to participate in legislative work. Second, we will expand the orderly participation of our citizens in the legislative process. We will maintain and improve the mechanism for announcing draft laws to the public; improve the effectiveness of legislative forums, debates and pubic hearings; select issues of widespread concern contained in draft laws and fully debate them; earnestly solicit opinions from a wide range of sources, especially the people at the primary level; continuously improve draft laws; and adopt a suitable method for giving feedback to society on how suggestions were dealt with. Third, at an appropriate time we will launch a pilot project to evaluate legislation after it is enacted. Based on problems the Standing Committee discovers in its investigations of law compliance as well as new circumstances and problems arising in the implementation of laws, we will select one or two laws affecting the vital interests of the people for the pilot project and develop a work mechanism for evaluating legislation after it is enacted.

4) We will supervise and guide efforts to sift through administrative regulations and local statutes. Administrative regulations and local statutes are integral components of the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics. Thanks to the common efforts of everyone involved, China currently has more than 690 administrative regulations and over 8,800 local statutes. They have played an important role in ensuring effective implementation of laws, promoting administration in accordance with the law, and managing local affairs. Nevertheless, we must also be aware that some existing regulations and statutes are unsuited to present circumstances, are not coordinated with each other, or lack supporting regulations and statutes. On the basis of the substantial results we achieved last year in amending existing laws, we will supervise and guide the State Council and local people's congresses in thoroughly amending their exiting administrative regulations and local statutes and completing the work by the end of the year.

5) We will continue to improve the filing and examination of normative documents. Administrative regulations, local statutes, statutes of autonomous bodies, specific regulations, legal interpretations and other normative documents must be filed in accordance with the law. We will take the initiative to carry out inspections in key areas. We will study and examine individually the legal interpretations newly issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and supervise them in thoroughly reviewing the legal interpretations they made before 2005.

It must be emphasized here that developing socialist democratic politics is a goal our Party will constantly pursue. At the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, the Party reviewed the lessons since the founding of the People's Republic, particularly those of the Cultural Revolution. It made the historic policy decision to shift the focus of the work of the Party and the state to economic development and introduce reform and opening up. It also made developing socialist democracy and improving the socialist legal system an important strategic task in building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Through the common efforts of everyone involved, a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics had been basically established by the end of the 10th NPC's term. There are now laws that cover almost every area of the country's economic, political, cultural and social activities, and these laws effectively ensure and promote the development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, we need to realize that rapid economic and social development, constant progress in socialist democratic politics, a rich and varied cultural life, the enthusiastic creation of a harmonious society, structural and institutional reforms and innovations, and the expansion of economic globalization continually place new demands on our legislative work. Legislation remains an important task of the current NPC. Our legislative work this year will be arduous and doing it well will be glorious. In order to meet our legislative goals set forth by the Central Committee on schedule, we must maintain a correct political orientation, put people first, proceed from China's actual conditions, seek truth from facts, and ensure the uniformity of law. We must also properly handle the relationships between powers and rights, between the stability of law and the uncertainty of practice, and between the foresightedness and feasibility of our laws and regulations in order to provide firm legal guarantees for promoting reform and opening up and socialist modernization, implementing the rule of law as a fundamental principle, and developing a socialist country ruled by law.

2. Focusing on implementing the CPC Central Committee's major decisions and arrangements and carrying out oversight work

China is in an important period of strategic opportunities for its economic and social development as well as a period of serious social problems, and its tasks for promoting reform, development, and stability are arduous and formidable. The Central Committee has made comprehensive arrangements to succeed in this year's work by drawing up the "five points requiring greater attention." It has emphasized the need to give greater attention to improving the quality and performance of economic growth; transforming the pattern of economic development and restructuring the economy; advancing reform, opening up, and independent innovation, and enhancing the vigor and vitality of economic growth, improving people's wellbeing, and maintaining social harmony and stability; and taking both the international and domestic situations into consideration to achieve steady and rapid economic development. The NPC Standing Committee needs to conscientiously implement the Law on Oversight; improve oversight of economic work and the handling of issues affecting people's wellbeing, focus on the "five points requiring greater attention," strive to tighten and improve oversight and increase its effectiveness; implement the major decisions and arrangements of the Central Committee; and ensure this year's tasks and objectives for economic and social development are successfully accomplished.