Report of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on the Proposal-Related Work since the Fourth Session of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee

Fellow Members,On behalf of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, I am honored to report to you on the work of handling proposals since the Fourth Session of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee for your examination.We have received a total of 5,158 proposals since the Fourth Session of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee. We filed 4,999 proposals after initial examination. Among them, 4,742 were from CPPCC members, 201 from the central committees of eight democratic parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, two from people’s organizations, 52 from sectoral groups and two from CPPCC special committees. By classification on topics, 2,252 proposals were economic construction, 1,488 on education, scientific research, culture, public health and physical culture and 1,259 on political, legal, social insurance and other matters. We have forwarded the proposals to 166 relevant departments for deliberation and application and by February 20, 2007, those departments had replied us about the execution of 98.94% of those proposals. IThe Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee has made serious efforts in the study and application of the “Opinions of the CPC Central Committee on Strengthening the Work of the CPPCC” and made it an important task of making innovations in the CPPCC work to strengthen and improve the work of handling proposals in the past year. We have specifically performed these tasks:(1) Forming guiding opinions on strengthening and improving the work of handling proposals and taking a series of concrete measures. After the conclusion of the Fourth Session of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee, we have been acting on the instructions of the Chairpersons’ meeting regarding making innovations in the work of handling proposals by making extensive investigations, called more than 30 meetings and discussions of different forms of the CPPCC National Committee members, representatives of democratic parties, the relevant government departments responsible for dealing with the CPPCC proposals, local CPPCC organizations and executive offices of the CPPCC to solicit opinions, study concrete problems, exchange views and seek solutions. After careful discussions, we have arrived at the document “Opinions of the CPPCC National Committee on Strengthening and Improving the Work of Handling Proposals” which has made it further clear the necessity of taking the improvement of the quality of proposals as the basis, the concrete results as the goal, the introduction of working rules as a guarantee, the importance of intensification of the supervision over the application of the proposals, the further perfection of the working mechanism of proposal handling, and the adopting of measures to achieve concerted efforts in tabling proposals and which should serve to play a guiding role in the making of proposals from CPPCC. (2) Organizing discussions on the improvement and innovations in the work of handling CPPCC proposals. At the CPPCC Forum on Proposal-Handling Work held late in November 2006, Chairman Jia Qinglin and Vice Chairman Wang Zhongyu attended and spoke and the director of the Committee for Handling Proposals made a work report. The meeting emphasized the importance of intensifying the sense of responsibility, consultation, the view of interests of the whole and the importance of innovations in work. The meeting discussed the criteria of the quality of proposals and work efficiency, exchanged views and experience on the improvement of proposals, especially the experience in making concerted efforts to table proposals from the CPPCC, further clarified the relationship between the quantity and quality of CPPCC proposals, the necessity of extending the scope of consultation and the strengthening of the leadership in the work. The meeting displayed a pragmatic and innovative spirit throughout and made further clear the mission.(3) Seeking new ways of making proposals to achieve still greater and better results. Firstly, persisting in making the quality of proposals as the foothold of the work. Through meetings with democratic parties regarding making proposals, featuring lectures on proposal making, organizing demonstrations on proposal making, and improving the content of the front pages of proposals. Secondly, strengthening the supervision over the materialization of proposals through better consultation among the Committee for Handling Proposals, the authors of proposals and the relevant government departments responsible for the application of the proposals to achieve actual results. For this purpose, we have organized eight consultative conferences, conducted five investigation missions, and organized seven visits to the relevant organizations. We have run 65 issues of reports on consultations and investigations and won written instructions from Premier Wen Jiabao, Chairman Jia Qinglin and other state and government leaders on 26 occasions. We have joined the relevant organizations and departments in convening 15 coordination meetings and organized more than 50 relevant departments responsible for handling the proposals to hold discussions to exchange experience in improving the quality of proposals. Thirdly, trying to increase the channels for publicity through the press, broadcasting, television and other media to publicize the information about the formation of proposals, the process of handling them and the results thereof so as to gradually increase the number of the publication of the full texts of proposals and their impacts. IIMembers of the CPPCC National Committee, the organizations participating in the CPPCC and the various CPPCC special committees have been working with a profound sense of political responsibility, persisting in taking the work of promoting development as the primary mission and advancing proposals actively by focusing on the major tasks of implementing the scientific concept of development, building a harmonious socialist society, implementing the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, building an innovative nation and promoting the realization of the great cause of the reunification of the fatherland. The proposals advanced by the CPPCC have won great attention of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the relevant government departments responsible for the implementation of those proposals which have been paying serious efforts to deal with them, and many of the proposals from the CPPCC were referred to in making laws and regulations and formulating principles, policies and important plans, as well as in doing the work of state and government departments. The proposals proved to be playing a positive role in helping the Communist Party and the government take a democratic and scientific approach toward policy making and planning and promoting the country’s economic and social development in a well-coordinated way.On the question of economic construction, CPPCC members and those participating in CPPCC have tabled more than 1,800 proposals from different angles which have won profound attention of the relevant departments. The central committees of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, the China Democratic National Construction Association and the Jiu San Society, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the China Zhi Gong Party, the sectoral groups and some of CPPCC National Committee members, in order to provide for reference for legislation, have submitted a proposal that the Income Tax Law for Domestic Enterprises and the Income Tax Law for Foreign-Funded Enterprises be unified into one law as early as possible, and as a result of the joint efforts of various quarters, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress has decided to submit the draft Enterprise Income Tax Law to the Fifth National People’s Congress for deliberation and adoption. Having received a CPPCC proposal for further improvement of the rural banking service, the People’s Bank of China (the central bank of the country) has conducted investigations together with the Committee for Handling Proposals and proposal makers and absorbed the gist of that proposal into its plan for the reform of the rural banking system. Pinpointing the problem of the difficulty of small and medium-sized enterprises in obtaining loans as is reflected in a CPPCC proposal, the China Banking Regulatory Commission has issued a circular demanding banking institutions to improve their work of providing loans and other banking services to small and medium-sized enterprises. The CPPCC Population, Resources and Environment Committee proposed that the exploitation of coal-bed methane be speeded up, which has aroused profound attention of the National Development and Reform Commission. The Commission has drawn upon from that proposal in its plan for the building of the natural gas pipeline network to lead natural gas from the western part to the eastern part of the country. Having received a CPPCC proposal regarding the building of natural tree shelterbelts, the State Forestry Administration, the Ministry of Finance and other government departments have studied the issue with the CPPCC Committee for Handling Proposals and taken a series of concrete measures to tackle the difficulties in that task. Regarding the proposal on the protection of water resources and the prevention of the invasion of salty tides, the Ministry of Water Resources has deemed the proposal a focal task and submitted to the State Council a “Report on the Issue of Resolving Water Supply to Macao and Zhuhai” and worked out a “Plan for Guaranteeing the Safety of Water Supply to Macao and Zhuhai.” In view of the proposal regarding problems in the small-scale trading between businesses of the mainland and Taiwan, the Ministry of Commerce has revised the “Rules for the Administration of Small-Scale Trading with the Taiwan Region” on the basis of the comments solicited extensively.In the field of education, science research, culture, public health and physical culture, the central committees of the Jiu San Society and the China Zhi Gong Party and a number of CPPCC National Committee members have tabled more than 50 proposals on the work of improving high-tech innovations and the government departments in charge of scientific and technological development have absorbed the gist of those proposals in making development plans and formulating relevant policies in an effort to build a working mechanism centering on technological innovations. Benefiting from those proposals advocating the strengthening of supervision over the use of the funds for scientific and educational development, the Ministry of Education has strengthened its examination of the budgets on scientific and technological development projects and further standardized the process of applications for research projects. The Ministry of Finance has drawn upon the proposal made by the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy regarding the implementation of a new mechanism for guaranteeing government allocations on rural compulsory education and formulated relevant policy measures for that purpose. Prompted by the proposals on improving rural cultural institutions, the Ministry of Culture has worked in cooperation with the relevant departments and worked out concrete measures for rural cultural institutions. In order to implement the proposal from CPPCC on dealing with deceptive advertising and illegal advertisements, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has intensified measures in dealing with deceptive advertising and illegal advertisements and the Administration for Industry and Commerce and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television have jointly promulgated a “Circular on the Rectification of the Radio and TV Information Service on Health Care and Medicines and the Contents of TV Shopping Programs”. Acting on the proposal about introducing the Olympic humanist spirit into school campuses, the Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee and the Ministry of Education have jointly formulated and are implementing the “Plan for Education in the 2008 Beijing Olympiad spirit among Chinese Primary and Secondary School Students” and the Ministry of Education has launched a drive to bring “Olympic Cultural Activities into School Campuses” among Chinese institutions of higher learning.Some of our proposals advocating the introduction of a system of seeking responsibilities of relevant officials in the field of politics, legal affairs and social insurance which have prompted the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council into working out relevant rules to seek responsibilities with officials concerned. In view of the proposal demanding improvement of public order in the Pearl River Delta, the Provincial Government of Guangdong has launched a series of activities to prevent and crack down upon criminal activities in the province and achieved marked results. Prompted by the proposal that reflects a popular view about the difficulty of execution of verdicts on civil cases by people’s courts, the Supreme People’s Court has worked in cooperation with the relevant departments in issuing a joint circular demanding improvement of the work of the execution of court rulings. Regarding the proposal on the necessity of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of rural laborers working in cities, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has set up a special leading group and a working institution to address this issue. As for the proposal that the laid-off workers from the Guizhou Mercury Mining Corporation be included in the new-type rural cooperative medical care system, the Provincial Government of Guizhou has worked on this issue as a special case and has caused the 9,000 unemployed workers to be entitled to the new rural cooperative medical care system. A proposal urging efforts to improve the conditions of the offices of national religious organizations and the buildings in the campuses of theological institutions has aroused great attention of the State Administration for Religious Affairs which has worked hard with the relevant departments to launch the necessary construction projects.Judging by the work of the implementation of the proposals from CPPCC as a whole, 16.44% have been materialized satisfactorily or already been accepted by the relevant departments and 68.76% have been placed under plans for implementation or to be accepted. As to those proposals not accepted, the relevant departments have given timely explanations to the proposal makers. The work we have done in 2006 in handling the proposals from CPPCC may be summed up as having the following three major features:First, there were better exchanges of views and consultations with those who raised the proposals. For instance, the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, the State Administration of Work Safety, the Beijing Municipal Government, the People’s Government of Hebei Province and other departments have strengthened contacts and consultations with the authors of the proposals through numerous forms and channels to seek most satisfactory solutions. The Ministry of Construction invited the relevant proposal makers for a discussion meeting on the very day the Fourth Session of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee closed. The Ministry of Finance very sincerely listened to the reactions of those CPPCC members from Hong Kong and Macao to the views of the Ministry on their proposal that the Hong Kong representative office of China Development Bank be changed in its institutional nature and then gave further explanations.Second, there was further improvement in the work of handling proposals from the democratic parties. For instance, Office of the Leading Group of the State Council for Revitalizing the Old Industrial Bases of Northeast China especially sent a group of officials to call on the Central Committee of China Democratic League to discuss its proposal on accelerating the building of the Northeast China eco-economic development zone. The Research Office of the State Council organized a special study of the proposal from the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party on the prevention of relative impoverishment among urban population. The CPC committee and the municipal government of Tianjin paid particular attention to a proposal from the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League about setting up a district for investments from Taiwan businesses within the Tianjin Binhai New Area.Third, there was further intensification of the follow-up work regarding the implementation of the proposals. For instance, the Ministry of Public Security set a special file for the supervision of the implementation of the proposals from CPPCC and provided timely feedbacks to the relevant departments. The State Ethnic Affairs Commission has drawn upon the proposal on making the people in border regions prosperous and taken a series of measures for that purpose. The Ministry of Railways responded to comments from CPPCC members criticizing the practice of raising the railway passenger fares during the Spring Festival busy season and decided to accept the proposal and translated it into practice.In order to facilitate the CPPCC members to be better informed of the handling of their proposals, this report has chosen seven departments responsible for dealing with proposals from CPPCC and requested them to furnish the information of their work in handling the proposals form CPPCC which are attached to this report for your reference.IIIDespite the achievements made, we still have come up with some new problems in the new circumstances, namely, there is room for improvement in the quality of the proposals, the work of handling them and the quality of the service we provide. In the coming year, the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee shall continue to implement with great earnest the “Opinions of the CPPCC National Committee on Strengthening and Improving the Work of Handling Proposals” and unfold the work methodically as follows:Further improve the quality of proposals on the basis of still better in-depth investigations. We shall pay great attention to studying and summing up the findings from our investigations so as to work out proposals of high quality. We shall persist in and further improve the practice of setting up files for examination of issues to be investigated into and setting up the criteria for appraisals as a means to guarantee the quality of proposals from CPPCC.Further improve coordinated service to ensure the actual results of handling proposals. We shall try to further strengthen exchanges and communications between proposal makers and the departments responsible for implementing the proposals in order to achieve a benign interaction between the two. We plan to hold a meeting for citation of meritorious proposal makers and departments implementing proposals.Further strengthen the institution of working rules to achieve real innovative work. We shall advance with the time and further refine the operation process of all steps of making proposals so as to gradually form a perfect working system and mechanism of high efficiency.Further strengthen guidance to achieve efficient coordination in work. We shall take powerful measures to integrate the work of making proposals with inspections, investigation and the work of reflecting the public demands and views and the canvassing of opinions aired in speeches at CPPCC meetings so as to make the work on proposals as a component of the general mission of the CPPCC. Respected CPPCC members, the work of CPPCC proposals is of great potential in the national historical mission of bringing initial affluence to the Chinese society and realizing a new great renaissance of the Chinese nation. Let us strive with concerted efforts under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party with Comrade Hu Jintao as its general secretary to make our new contributions to the great cause of developing the national economy at high speed and of fine quality and building a harmonious socialist society!