This year's National People's Congress (NPC) session is "the most open and transparent" meeting in its history, according to an official with the NPC Standing Committee.

Most of the delegations to the NPC have opened their meetings to domestic and overseas reporters since the annual session started on March 5 and journalists have been to listen carefully to deputies airing their opinions on state affairs.

"It's not the first time the meetings of the NPC delegations have been open to the media, but it's the most open and transparent session," said the NPC official.

During the first five days of the session, more than 30 delegations have opened their meetings to reporters at least once, he added.

Through media reports, the Chinese and overseas public have a clearer idea of the work of the NPC deputies and have a better communication with the deputies, said the official.

The NPC deputies are under the supervision of all walks of life thanks to the journalists' coverage of the meetings, and the quality of the deputies has been improved as a result, said the official.

In addition, TV media are allowed to do more live broadcasts on the plenary sessions of the NPC this year.

China Central Television, China National Radio and China Radio International for the first time telecast and broadcast live the work report of the NPC Standing Committee, delivered by Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, on Thursday.

Zhuang Gonghui, an NPC deputy, said, "The presence of reporters has somewhat changed the style of some deputies in their discussions.

"Some deputies used to heap praise on the government work report and their achievements. But now they say less nonsense in their discussions," Zhuang said.

Zhuang said each NPC deputy represents tens of thousands of Chinese people. "On behalf of Chinese people, we should state their opinions frankly, and be practical and realistic."

A reporter surnamed Lin from the Taiwan-based Economic Daily News said it was the first time she heard the discussions of the deputies.

"I had thought that the open meetings would be specially arranged for reporters. But to my surprise, the discussions at the meetings are very acute," said Lin.

In front of the cameras, Qu Jun, an NPC deputy from Shanghai, expressed his worry about the goal of increasing China's education investment to 4 percent of GDP in 2010, set in the nation's 11th Five-Year Guidelines (2006-2010).

"That means education investment will have to increase from less than 400 billion yuan in 2005 to 1 trillion yuan in 2010. We can imagine the difficulty of achieving this goal," Qu said.

Zhao Kezheng, an NPC deputy from Tianjin, voiced his sharp criticism on the situation China's medical system reform and medicine circulation system reform.

A reporter with Reuters said it was the third time for him to cover the NPC sessions. The opening of the meetings to media this year has left a deep impression on him.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2006)