China’s Parliamentary Sessions to Draw Global Attention
03/04/2010 Source: Xinhua
As the annual plenary sessions of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are set to start on March 5 and March 3 respectively, the international community have started to cast their eyes on China.
It is known to all that China have achieved marvelous economic growth in 2009 when most economies across the world were still suffering the global financial crisis and economic downturn. But, what kind of answer sheet will China present in the year 2010?
So far, thousands of journalists and reporters from all over the world have arrived in Beijing to cover the sessions, hoping to seek clues and insight into the political life and economic prospects of China through the two important meetings.
First of all, the international community wants to probe new signals on economic policies and decisions by the Chinese government during the parliamentary sessions.
Several Western media and think tanks, such as The Choice magazine of Japan, have made comments that although the Chinese economy has seen remarkable recovery, China is still facing various challenges including trade disputes and inflation.
How China will resolve such challenges and whether China could continue to be the world economy’s engine are what the international community intends to know from the sessions, during which the deputies are expected to discuss the plans and measures on boosting economy.
The new plans and prospects of improving people’s living standards China will table during the sessions is another concern from the international community.
In recent years, the Chinese government has attached more importance to improving the people’s living standards and various relevant reforms and policies have been implemented.
Earlier this year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said everything the Chinese government has done is to let the people lead “happier lives” with “greater dignity.”
Just as Singapore’s newspaper Lianhe Zaobao has put it, there is a tendency in China that the government attaches more importance on improving people’s living standards and this year will be better than last year.
The international community will also pay attention to new changes in China’s political and democratic process to take place during the sessions.
A draft amendment to the Electoral Law is scheduled to present to the deputies during the NPC session for approval.
The draft requires that both rural and urban areas adopt the same ratio of deputies to the legislatures.
As a result, Chinese rural and urban people are about to get equal representation in lawmaking bodies, which means farmers will have the same say in the country’s decision-making process as urbanites.
The legislation would promote China’s democracy into a higher level, Malaysian newspaper Sin Chew Jit Poh has commented.
In the meantime, China’s efforts in fighting corruption have also drawn worldwide attention.
Lianhe Zaobao said that facts have proven the determination of the Chinese leadership to wipe out corruption and the international community had spoken highly of China’s anti-corruption drive.
Why is the international community so enthusiastic about China’s parliamentary plenary sessions? The answer is simple: China and the world are relevant in development.
It is known to foreign experts that the annual parliamentary sessions are a vital window to look into China’s social and economic development, and the policy signals sent by the sessions will play a significant role in shaping China’s development and thus influencing the world at large.
Just as former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has put it, China’s stability and development benefits the world.
At present, the global economic recovery has not yet stabilized and the developed countries have yet to come out of economic downturn, so China’s policy orientation to be shown during the parliamentary sessions would allure eyes from all over the globe.
Dominique Strausse-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, once said that it was beyond all doubt that China would continue to play a vital role in boosting international and regional economic recovery.
