Top legislator stresses confidence in political system

China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang Sunday called for full confidence in the country's basic political system at the ongoing annual parliamentary session.[Special coverage]

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), delivered a report on the work of the Standing Committee at a plenary meeting attended by nearly 3,000 lawmakers at the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing.

"We should firmly maintain our confidence in the system of people's congresses, and advance it with the times," Zhang said.

The NPC, established 60 years ago, has been proven to be the fundamental political system that fits in China's reality, reflects the socialist nature of the state and guarantees the people's position as masters of the country, he said.

The year of 2013 was the first year of the 12th NPC's five-year term.

Building on the past achievements, the Standing Committee took new steps in the work of the NPC, and ensured that its work got off to a good start, Zhang said.

Over the past year, the Standing Committee deliberated 15 bills and draft decisions on legal issues, of which 10 of them were passed; and revised 21 laws and enacted two, according to Zhang's report.

The top legislature introduced new methods to improve the quality of legislation.

The public used to be informed and asked for opinion about a bill once, usually after its first reading. Last year, the legislature started to add one round of opinion soliciting after the second reading of a bill.

In another new move last year, outside experts and parties of interest were invited to evaluate bills before they were put to vote.

Supervising the governments, courts and procuratorates is another major task for the NPC.

Over the past year, the Standing Committee listened to and deliberated 15 work reports of the State Council, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, inspected the implementation of four laws, conducted three special inquiries and carried out five investigations on specific problems.

The NPC Standing Committee also worked to enable NPC deputies to fully exercise their duty.

The Standing Committee divided NPC deputies into 260 groups so that deputies can better coordinate with each other and solicit people's opinions in a more efficient way.

A total of 1,740 deputies took part in investigations and studies on special topics and 1,700 deputies in inspection tours.

Each member of the Chairperson's Council was asked to keep direct contact with at least five NPC deputies.

The number of NPC deputies observing the bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee was raised to 66.