Top legislature better at collecting public opinion

China's top legislature has established more channels for the public to participate in national governance over the past decade, guaranteeing that the people are the masters of the country, officials said.

The National People's Congress, the top legislative body, and its standing committee have set up a system for regularly soliciting public opinion, and have collected more than 3.8 million suggestions on draft laws from people from all walks of life in the past 10 years, Song Rui, director of the research department with the NPC Standing Committee's General Office, told a news conference on Wednesday.

He said they also designated 22 sites, including colleges and subdistricts, as grassroots stations to collect people's ideas and suggestions on legislation, "which is like a nonstop train that can take residents' advice directly to the top legislature".

Additionally, the NPC Standing Committee has built information platforms and legal databases to increase the means of collecting public opinion, and allowing people to take part in legislation, Song said.

"Enabling people to be broadly involved in democratic activities and giving them ways to fully share ideas play a big role in guaranteeing the people are the masters of the country and implementing whole-process people's democracy," he said.

The top legislature has also forged closer ties with NPC deputies, inviting them to attend NPC Standing Committee sessions as well as arranging for them to participate in legislative surveys and inspections of law enforcement, he said.

He added that in the past five years, 4,648 motions and 84,028 suggestions provided by deputies were read and handled, helping solve a series of problems of concern to the public.

Wang Tiemin, deputy secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee, told the media on Wednesday that the top legislature has passed 69 new laws and amended 237, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, with the adoption of 99 major legal decisions.

"Those laws were made to meet people's increasing and urgent legal demands, and also to contribute to the country's development and major reforms," he said.

In the past decade, for example, the top legislature passed the nation's first Civil Code, with intensified efforts in making and revising laws involving national security and environmental protection, he added.

The top legislature safeguarded the authority and dignity of the Constitution, strengthening reviews of normative documents, such as judicial interpretations and administrative regulations, to make sure they did not contradict the fundamental law, according to Wang.