Top legislature pledges higher-quality legislation

China's top legislature will improve the quality of its lawmaking by increasing public participation and operability of the laws and regulations, a spokesperson for the annual session of China's top legislative body said Tuesday.  [Special coverage]

"We will improve our legal system and the quality of the legislation," Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the second session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), told a press conference.

"We will give more emphasis to the effectiveness of the laws and regulations we make," she added.

Fu said that the NPC Standing Committee will enhance the operability of the laws and regulations by making them more specific and clear.

"We will also better engage the public into our legislative process," she said.

We will release the draft of laws and regulations to the public, not only after their first reading by the lawmakers, but also after the second one, asking for opinions from all walks of life, she said.

Fu also said that NPC will have the draft of laws and regulations evaluated before their approval to make sure that they are more reasonable and operable.

The spokeswomen said that the country's legislation will be well centered on the issues of great public concerns and stressed that all major reforms should be legally grounded.

Fu's remarks echoed the recent speech of the Chinese President Xi Jinping, also head of China's leading group for overall reform, that the "rule of law" must be followed and highlighted through the whole reform process.

The NPC annual session is scheduled to open on Wednesday.