The Chinese top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) has given full play to cementing a mechanism for exchanges with foreign parliaments on a regular basis, an NPC offcial has said.

Cao Weizhou, Deputy Secretary General of the Standing Committee of the NPC, said NPC's nine specialized committees have enabled the Chinese top legislative body to conduct extensive exchanges and cooperation in political, economic, cultural and social respects.

At present, the Chinese NPC's exchanges and communication helped it to keep frequent contacts with foreign governments, communities and parliamentarians from both ruling parties and opposition parties.

Cao noted that the exchange and communication are flexible and organized in various forms, adding that the multi-level exchanges between parliament members (PM), specialized committees, friendship teams and working agencies have already born fruits.

"When the overall nation-to-nation ties are in good shape, the interaction initiated by the NPC helped to further this relationship; in a time of difficulty, it is conducive to smooth the thrusts," said Cao.

China and the NPC have given priority to the establishment and further enhancement of the regular mechanism facilitating its exchanges with foreign parliaments.

In the year 2005 alone, Chinese President Hu Jintao have met foreign parliament speakers on more than 20 different occasions.

China already managed to make the regular-exchange mechanism a reality between its NPC and parliaments from the United States, Russia, France, Italy, Japan and Canada.

It is working on a similar mechanism with the United Kingdom, Australia, the Republic of Korea, India, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil and Chile.

"Our work will be more tailored and efficient in 2006," said the NPC official, "by which we hope to create a favorable neighborhood and international environment for China's drive to build a well-off society."

Source: Xinhua