5. We complied with and served China's diplomacy and did the NPC's foreign relations work well.

The NPC's foreign relations are an important component of China's overall diplomacy. We steadfastly complied with and served China's diplomacy, and fully utilized the characteristics and advantages of the NPC in developing foreign relations to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with foreign parliaments and congresses and international parliamentary organizations, thereby making new contributions to safeguarding and exploiting the important period of strategic opportunity for China's development and safeguarding China's sovereignty, security and development interests.

We actively developed high-level contacts with the national parliaments or congresses of other countries including Russia, Uganda, Nigeria, Slovakia, Poland, Iran, Thailand and Pakistan, and deepened friendship with neighboring countries, other developing countries and emerging market economies. We steadily promoted exchanges with foreign congresses or parliaments under the mechanism of regular exchanges, and on its basis held meetings with the national congresses or parliaments of Russia, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Australia as well as with regional parliaments such as the European Parliament and also maintained continuity of regular exchanges with the United States Congress. We got the special committees, bilateral friendship groups and the executive bodies of the Standing Committee to strengthen foreign relations and exchanges in their specific fields. We did a good job in receiving visiting delegations of other countries' congresses or parliaments, and enriched the content of communication with them. We also extensively engaged in multilateral diplomatic activities among parliaments and congresses and played a constructive role in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Latin American Parliament, and other international and regional parliamentary organizations.

In our foreign relations work, we told China's story and let its voice be heard in many forms on different occasions. First, we thoroughly expounded the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, explained the system of people's congresses in detail, and widely publicized the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, thereby helping the international community to better understand China's domestic and diplomatic policies. Second, with the focus on exchanging experiences with our foreign counterparts regarding legislation and state governance, we explained China's achievements in developing democracy and the rule of law, and learned from other countries' beneficial experiences. Third, with promoting pragmatic cooperation as the core, we worked to create a legal environment favorable for deepening economic and trade cooperation and expanding cultural and people-to-people exchanges with other countries, and strengthened the social and popular foundation for developing relations between China and other countries.

In response to erroneous statements and actions by certain countries concerning China's core interests and issues of vital importance to China, we solemnly made clear our position to resolutely safeguard China's national interests through declarations from the NPC's Foreign Affairs Committee and participation in relevant international conferences.