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Special> NPC & CPPCC Sessions 2013> Exclusive
UPDATED: February 25, 2013 NO. 9 FEBRUARY 28, 2013
Roll Call for Political Advisors
New CPPCC National Committee is set to start tenure amid calls for reform
By Wang Hairong
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PUTTING FORWARD PROPOSALS: Ding Jie, member of the 11th CPPCC National Committee and Vice President of Peking University No.1 Hospital, proposes to train more pediatricians and build more medical facilities for children, at a panel discussion on March 11, 2012 (WU JINGWEN)

The First Session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's national political advisory body, will convene in Beijing on March 3, two days before the First Session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature.

The principal function of CPPCC national and local committees is political consultation, democratic supervision and participation in the discussion and management of state affairs, according to the CPPCC Charter.

Xinhua News Agency released the 2,237-name roster of the 12th CPPCC National Committee on February 2. Yu Zhengsheng is the only member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee listed and is expected to serve as the new CPPCC National Committee's chair.

The full session of the CPPCC National Committee is an annual event. This year's session is noteworthy because members will elect the organization's new leaders while top state and government leaders will be elected by NPC deputies. CPPCC National Committee members will also hear and deliberate the Government Work Report and examine issues of public concern.

Member selection

CPPCC members are selected from the CPC and other political parties, personages without party affiliation, mass organizations, ethnic minorities, and individuals from all walks of life, including representatives from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, as well as overseas Chinese and other specially invited people.

"As the duty of CPPCC members is to offer political advice, only those competent to fulfill this important duty can be appointed," said Li Changjian, Deputy Secretary General of the 11th CPPCC National Committee.

Li said that CPPCC members should simultaneously possess the qualities of a political theorist, thinker, social activist and reformer, and should courageously uphold public interests and always maintain honesty.

According to Xinhua, of all the 2,237 members of the 12th CPPCC National Committee, 39.9 percent are CPC members; women make up 17.8 percent of membership, a greater proportion than the last conference; and 11.5 percent are from minority ethnic groups, with all 56 ethnic groups represented.

New CPPCC National Committee members average 56.1 years old, and of whom, 94.9 percent are college educated. A little more than half served in the 11th CPPCC National Committee during the previous five years, whereas 1,080 of them are new to the organization.

Information at the CPPCC National Committee's website shows that CPPCC National Committee members are selected according to the following procedures:

First, candidates to the CPPCC National Committee are recommended by political parties, influential persons without party affiliation, mass organizations, ethnic groups and social sectors through negotiation. Then the candidate list is submitted to relevant organizations under the CPC Central Committee for deliberation.

Yang Chonghui, Deputy Secretary General of the 11th CPPCC National Committee, said that candidates representing the CPC are reviewed by the CPC Central Committee's Organization Department while other candidates are reviewed by the CPC Central Committee's United Front Work Department.

After that, the Standing Committee of the previous CPPCC National Committee approves new national committee members by simple majority, publishes the name list and issues certificates to new members.

Members of the 12th CPPCC National Committee are grouped into 34 units or "circles" corresponding to various social sectors, including nine for political parties and one for influential persons without party affiliation. Eight circles represent mass organizations such as the Communist Youth League of China, the All-China Federation of Women, the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots and the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese.

Eleven circles correspond to social sectors such as culture and art, science and technology, social sciences, economics and agriculture.

The remaining five circles respectively represent ethnic minorities and religious bodies as well as Hong Kong, Macao and other geographic areas.

Mo Yan, the 2012 Nobel Laureate in Literature, was appointed to the Culture and Art Circle, and Yao Ming, a former NBA star with the Houston Rockets, selected into the Sports Circle.

In recent years, profound changes have taken place in Chinese society, so the circles should be changed to reflect these changes, Li said during last year's full session of the CPPCC National Committee.

Composition of the circles has been changed somewhat in the CPPCC's history of more than six decades.

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