Political advisors to meet
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-03-03 14:29

The annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is to open Wednesday as scheduled, and will be highlighted by a report of the work of the Standing Committee of the 10th CPPCC National Committee, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Chairman Jia Qinglin of the CPPCC National Committee will deliver the report, which used to be done by a vice chairman, for members to deliberate, said Zhang Guoxiang, spokesman for the second session of the 10th CPPCC National Committee.

Briefing journalists of the agenda of the session, which lasts through March 12, Zhang Guoxiang said the members will also hear and deliberate a work report by Vice Chairman Li Meng on the issue of proposals, attend the annual session of the nation's to legislature as observers, and discuss and adopt the amended charter of the CPPCC in addition to a political resolution and other documents of the session.

As of Tuesday's noon, 1,312 of the 2,229 members had registeredfor the session and the Secretariat had received 324 proposals, which mainly dwell on economic affairs, social security, educationand medical care, the spokesman said.

Corruption, farmer-related issues and the people's livelihood are also major topics of the proposals, which are what netizens want to be tackled at the upcoming annual sessions of the CPPCC and the National People's Congress, according to an on-line surveyco-launched by xinhuanet.com and the Economic Information newspaper.

During the CPPCC session, said Zhang, journalists are allowed to attend some panel discussions and two press conferences, one onthe old industrial base in northeast China and the other on the private sector.

The CPPCC National Committee members are expected to share their views on a number of hot issues including structural problems in economic operation, the slowdown in the growth of farmers' income, food and drug safety, restructuring of state banks, and the anti-corruption campaign, Zhang said.

In response to a question raised by a Taiwanese reporter, Zhangsaid the question of Taiwan is connected to the reunification of the motherland and China's territorial integrity and sovereignty, which draws enormous attention from Chinese at home and abroad. Itwill also be a topic of members.

The CPPCC is a patriotic united front organization of the Chinese people, serving as a key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of theCommunist Party of China.

The main functions of the CPPCC are to conduct political consultation, exercise democratic supervision and participate in the discussion and the handling of state affairs.