The
Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top
advisory body, which will open its annual session Monday, is
enlarging and changing its membership and paying increasing
attention to major political, economic and social issues.
Zhang Guoxiang, spokesman for the first session of the 10th
National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC), told a press conference Sunday that 2,238
members, 42 more than the Ninth CPPCC National Committee, will
attend this year's session.
The session, which lasts until March 14, will elect a new CPPCC
leadership.
"The CPPCC leadership change follows the 16th
National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which
set the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way and
saw a smooth transition of its central leadership,'' he said.
Zhang also noted that the number of CPPCC members from the private
sector and from other new strata exceeds previous levels.
"The increasing of members from the non-State sector reflects the
changes caused by the economic development, especially the recent
fast development of the private sector,'' Zhang said.
According to the General Office of the CPPCC National Committee,
there will be 33 leaders from major State-owned enterprises and 65
representatives from China's fledgling private sector and other
non-State-owned firms on the 10th CPPCC National Committee.
Zhang said the implementation of a proactive fiscal policy,
employment and social security are among the top issues that the
committee members cared most this year, in view of proposals and
speeches the committee has so far received.
The top 10 issues also include those concerning the reform of the
State-owned assets management system, problems with regard to
agriculture, rural areas and farmers, reform of the fiscal and
financial systems, social credit, the development of the private
sector and protection of private property, judicial fairness,
social distribution and education reform, Zhang said.
Besides, some other urgent issues also deserve attention of the
members of the CPPCC National Committee, such as problems
concerning energy, construction projects and food safety, he
added.
The secretariat of the session has so far received more than 360
proposals and 236 written speeches from members, he said.
The presidium of the first session of the 10th National Committee
of the CPPCC held its first meeting in Beijing Sunday
afternoon.
The meeting examined and approved a list of 14 executive
chairpersons of the presidium and a list of chairpersons for the
meetings of executive chairpersons. The meeting agreed to designate
Jia Qinglin as the chairman of the meetings of the executive
chairpersons of the presidium, Zhang said.
(China Daily March 3, 2003)