Special Report: NPC, CPPCC Annual Sessions 2008

Chinese political advisors on Sunday Morning continued to raise their proposals on major state affairs at the annual session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Sixteen CPPCC National Committee members spoke at the session's third plenary meeting on the Taiwan issue, economic development of Hong Kong, rural health care, among others. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese political advisors on Sunday Morning continued to raise their proposals on major state affairs at the annual session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

    Sixteen CPPCC National Committee members spoke at the session's third plenary meeting on the Taiwan issue, economic development of Hong Kong, political system, Chinese culture promotion, judicial justness, rural health care, among others.

    Jia Qinglin, chairman of the 10th National Committee of the CPPCC, attended the meeting.

Chinese political advisors on Sunday Morning continued to raise their proposals on major state affairs at the annual session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Senior officials from the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and State Council, were also present to hear the proposals.

    Li Wuwei said on behalf of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang that the Taiwan issue concerns China's reunification and the core interests of the country.

    The non-Communist parties should exert their efforts for the benefits of the people across the Taiwan Straits and sovereignty and territorial integrity by upholding the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, Li said.

    Yu Sun-say from Hong Kong suggested that the special administrative region should strengthen its role as an international market while seeking to merge with the mainland's economy, which is both beneficial for Hong Kong's own development and its participation in the nation's development.

Chinese political advisors on Sunday Morning continued to raise their proposals on major state affairs at the annual session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Yu called for the participation of Hong Kong professionals in drawing up the national development plan for the years between 2011 and 2015.

    Li Lijun, a top supervision official in central Hunan Province of the non-Communist China Democratic League, proposed a complete official accountability system that puts officials under the oversight from the powers of political morality, discipline and law.

    Wu Zhengde, vice chairman of the China Democratic League Central Committee, urged the country's courts to trim the scale of their judge contingent while raising the standard of professionalism.

    Meanwhile, courts should increase salary and improve welfare for high-calibre judges who have been frequently reported to resign and turn to be lawyers, amid efforts to ensure the quality of the contingent, Wu added.

    Sun Shuyi, chairman of the CPPCC Shandong provincial committee, called for more support to a culture symbolic project in the ancestral hometowns of Confucius and Mencius, which is designed to showcase the country's tradition and soft power.

    Li Junru, vice president of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said the Western academia has been studying theories of "deliberative democracy" in recent years, mainly because the conventional, voting-centered system has fallen behind the people's increasing demand for democracy.

Chinese political advisors on Sunday Morning continued to raise their proposals on major state affairs at the annual session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "The 'deliberative democracy' is similar to the Chinese political consultation system in many ways, but our system has been in practice for more than 50 years," he said.

    "As far as democracy is concerned, we should learn from the West but must not underestimate ourselves."

    Founded in 1949, the CPPCC consists of elite members of the Chinese society who are willing to serve the think tank for the government and for the country's legislative and judicial organs.

    As an open forum where the ruling CPC, non-Communist parties and people without party affiliation discuss state affairs freely and on an equal footing, the CPPCC has been the manifestation of China's socialist democracy.