The 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, opened its second session this morning at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

A panoramic view of the opening meeting of the second session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing this morning. Xinhua

Xi Jinping and other State leaders attended the opening meeting.

According to Lou Qinjian, spokesperson for the second session of the NPC, which will conclude March 11, the agenda included deliberating on the government work report, reviewing the report on the implementation of the 2023 plan for national economic and social development and on the 2024 draft plan, and the draft plan for national economic and social development in 2024.

National legislators will review the report on the execution of the central and local budgets for 2023 and on the draft central and local budgets for 2024, Lou said at a press conference yesterday.

Journalists work to report on the opening meeting of the second session of the NPC in Beijing this morning. Xinhua

They will also deliberate the bill put forward by the NPC Standing Committee on reviewing the draft revision to the Organic Law of the State Council, he said.

NPC deputies will also deliberate on the work reports of the NPC Standing Committee, the Supreme People’s Court, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, he added.

The people’s congress system is the fundamental political system in China. At the pinnacle of the system sits the NPC, which is the supreme organ of State power. There are over 2.7 million deputies at various levels of the people’s congresses, including nearly 3,000 deputies to the NPC.

The system is designed to include people from various backgrounds and cover a diverse cross-section of society.Working in a part-time capacity, deputies at various levels are key channels for people’s voices. They are both entitled and obliged to stand for the people’s interests and express their requests.

Also yesterday, China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), opened its annual session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Wang Huning, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, delivered a work report of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee.

Since March last year, the CPPCC National Committee and its affiliated institutions have organized 23 batches of visits to exchange and interact with more than 200 institutions in 50 countries, and have established new contacts with 41 foreign think tanks and 12 nongovernmental organizations, Wang said.

Three activities have been held to invite foreigners, including foreign diplomatic envoys in China and senior visiting scholars, to visit the CPPCC auditorium in Beijing. All those activities have enhanced foreigners’ understanding of Chinese modernization, whole-process people’s democracy, and the CPPCC, he said. 

Editor/Li Jing

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