Chinese participate in political affairs at a higher level

Editor's note: The Chinese government is well known for its efforts in human rights guarantee. The People's Daily Overseas Edition recently opened a special column "Human Rights in All Aspects" to introduce to overseas readers recent achievements China has achieved in this field.

Payment for migrant workers, health care, employment, corruption”­all these widely concerned social issues have become focuses of attention by NPC deputies and CPPCC members at the "two sessions" held in March.

"I have questions for Premier", "I have a suggestion to NPC deputies", NPC deputies and CPPCC members open blog to hear common people's opinions”­outside conference rooms of the "two sessions", the Net has become a much larger gathering ground. It is easy to see that Chinese people are paying closer attention to the country's political affairs and are participating in a more direct manner.

NPC deputies more capable in participating in political affairs

The 40 percent sharp slash of retailing prices of drugs falling into 22 categories and over 600 specifications last year remains fresh in many people's memory. That is a result of nine suggestions put forward by 119 NPC deputies. This is the largest ever drug price reduction in China, easing the public's burden by nearly 4 billion yuan.

The People's Congress, as the organ through which people exercise state power, currently has more than 2.8 million deputies at central and all local levels. From law formulation, revision to "trivialities" concerning people's life, deputies' proposals and suggestions cover all social and economic fields, many of which roused related authorities' attention and were properly handled.

As the highest organ of state power, the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee are playing an increasingly important role in governing the country according to law and securing people's democratic rights. The 2004 constitution amendment adopted at the second session of the 10th National People's Congress for the first time enshrined the "human rights" concept and laid down clearly that "the state respects and guarantees human rights". During the following year, the NPC and its Standing Committee reviewed altogether 25 laws, law interpretations and law-related draft decisions and passed 18 of them. The regulation concerning the agricultural tax was abolished, the law of personal income tax revised and the law on the guarantee of the rights and interests of women also revised”­all these efforts fully demonstrated the governing philosophy of "putting people first" and "enacting law for the people", providing further legislative guarantee to China's socio-economic progress and human rights undertakings.

The widest and most direct democratic practices

For Ma Zucai from Pingtang Village, Yanfang Township, Yongxiu County of east China's Jiangxi Province, Oct. 30, 2005 also marked a special day, in which he, together with more than 1,200 fellow villagers, cast his vote in the election of villagers' committee.

Like Feng, villagers of 21 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across China experienced such an election last year. To do a better job in this regard, Guangdong Province set up an observer system, under while departments of civil affairs at all levels selected 2,785 observers who monitored the whole election process of 2,100 villages. They reported 126 irregularities, reversed election results in 32 cases and corrected errors in 94 cases.

By now, 615,000 villagers' committees across the nation have basically realized governance by villager themselves featuring the exercise of democracy in election, policy-making, administration and supervision. Such a system has become an effective way to expand grassroots democracy and improve governance in rural areas.

China has established a grassroots democratic self-governance system mainly supported by villagers' committees in rural areas, residents' committees in urban areas and staff and workers' congresses in enterprises, experts say.

Build a bridge between government, citizens

"Spokesman" has in recent years become a post widely set up in governments of all levels and many organizations. Via all kinds of media, these spokesmen receiving massive publicity succeeded in building a bridge linking governments and citizens.

Last year, nearly 70 departments of the State Council established spokesman system and set up some 80 such posts. The system is also set up in 27 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

In 2005, the Information Office of the State Council held a total number of 68 news conferences; 51 State Council departments, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Public Security, held about 390 news briefings, and 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities including Beijing, Heilongjiang and Shanghai held 630.

This year's Report on the Work of the Government made by Premier Wen Jiabao at the fourth session of the 10th National People's Congress made a point that "We will make government more open and improve the system for releasing information." The establishment and improvement of spokesman system, experts say, has significantly boosted the building of an open and transparent government, and helped to guarantee citizens' rights to learn the truth, to supervise and participate in public affairs.

By People's Daily Online