Top political advisory body concludes annual session

BEIJING—The First Session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) concluded on Friday, adopting resolutions and stressing the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) over the CPPCC.
Jia Qinglin, who was re-elected chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, the top political advisory body, presided over the closing meeting. Jia urged political advisors to adhere to the two main themes of unity and democracy and “unite all forces that can be united” to contribute to the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
He called the session a success and offered thanks for the support from the CPC Central Committee, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), State Council and others. CPC and state leaders Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Zeng Qinghong, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang attended the opening and closing and participated in group discussions on state affairs.
Hu, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made an important speech on relations with Taiwan when addressing political advisors at the CPPCC session, Jia said. The session elected the chairman, 25 vice-chairpersons, a secretary-general and 298 Standing Committee members of the 11th CPPCC National Committee.
A political resolution adopted at the closing meeting hailed China’s development over the past five years, saying that the CPC Central Committee — with Hu as general secretary — had led people of all ethnic groups in advancing reform, opening up and modernization. “Members of the CPPCC National Committee are much inspired by the splendid achievements of our country over the past five years,” it said.
The resolution called on all CPPCC members to study and implement the guiding principles of the 17th CPC National Congress and firmly hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It also called on CPPCC members to raise more proposals on macroeconomic regulation, agriculture and the people’s livelihood, the State Council institutional restructuring plan and other issues.
Hu’s recent remarks on relations with Taiwan were significant in guiding the work concerning Taiwan, the resolution noted. Hu, addressing political advisors attending the CPPCC session last week, said that the mainland would make utmost efforts regarding anything that was good for the Taiwan compatriots and conducive to safeguarding peace in the Taiwan Straits and promoting the peaceful reunification of the motherland.
The resolution also professed support for the government work report by Premier Wen Jiabao, the draft plan of State Council institutional restructuring reform and the work reports of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. It accepted the work report of the 10th CPPCC National Committee and the report on how suggestions and proposals from CPPCC members were handled since the last session.
By 2 p.m. on March 9, 1,992 members of the 11th CPPCC National Committee members had submitted 4,772 proposals on the economy, politics and other subjects. Political advisors attached great importance to the issues related to people’s lives. They raised 509 proposals on rural development, 389 on health care and medical services, 310 on education, and hundreds of others on energy conservation, environmental protection, employment, social security, food and drug safety and housing.
During the past five years, political advisors filed 21,843 proposals on politics, the economy, science and other issues, of which more than 99 percent received responses from relevant departments or were handled in line with China’s laws and regulations. The 11th CPPCC National Committee has 2,236 members, of whom 2,148 attended the closing meeting of the annual session that kicked off on March 3.

—Xinhua