The "two sessions" of this year are unusual, NPC deputies and CPPCC members, shouldering the heavy responsibilities entrusted by the people of the whole country, will discuss and examine the 10th Five-year Plan and other major topics, depict the spring beauty of the new century and draw up a blueprint for development in the next five years.

NPC Deputy.Yang Renzheng, mayor of Taizhou City of Zhejiang Province, said that the session of this year is of great significance, the 10th Five-year Plan to be discussed and examined at the session will surely play an important role in China's development in the new century. He said Taizhou is the birthplace of China's joint stock system. For the session, he has prepared two proposals: First, the Proposal on Speeding Up the Shareholding System Reform of State-owned Commercial Banks; second, the Proposal for Accelerating the Development of Teacher Education.

CPPCC Member Bai Jingzhong, honorary chairman of the China Metrology Association, expressed this view: China's 10th Five-year Plan, the main topic to be discussed and examined at the "two sessions", will be of extremely important significance to our country's social and economic development, invigoration and take-off and to our great national rejuvenation. He said he would fulfill his responsibility as a CPPCC member by contributing his ideas and suggestions to the session.

Gan Zhihe, director of the Investment and Planning Department of the State Economic and Trade Commission, said that as clearly stated by the Fifth Plenum of the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), structural readjustment is the main line of the development of the national economy during the 10th Five-year Plan period, and industrialization remains an important part of China's modernization drive, he said we earnestly hoped that all the deputies to the first NPC Congress in the new century would show more concern for structural readjustment, particularly the use of high and new technology to revamp traditional industries and for high and new technological industrialization and put forward constructive opinions and set higher demand on us.

General Manager Guo Xiumin with an exclusively ROK-owned enterprise expressed the hope that new State policies related to exclusively owned enterprises would be published, and when the 10th Five-year Plan is discussed and examined at the "two sessions", attention would be paid to the question concerning the development of foreign-funded enterprises and greater efforts to expand the absorption of foreign investment would be encouraged.

NPC Deputy Liu Bingyin, president of the Henan Xinfei Electrical Appliance Company, remarked: After China's entry into the WTO, Chinese enterprises will face fierce global market competition. For many years, his company has consistently carried out the name-brand strategy and been further integrated with the world market system. He said as an NPC deputy from an enterprise, he would strive to shoulder the heavy task of invigorating the national industry.

Wang Lili, executive deputy director of Beijing's Fangshan District No.1 Clothing Factory, while talking about the relationship between the revamping of State institutions and enterprise reform, said, "on the eve of the 'two sessions', the State Economic and Trade Commission dissolved the Internal Trade Bureau and eight other State bureaus under the administration of the Commission, guidance for their related businesses will be vested in a department of the State Economic and Trade Commission. In this way, the enterprise can directly face the market, but the State still cannot relax its policy and information guidance for the enterprises. He hoped that the final version of the 10th Five-year Plan to be discussed and examined at the "two sessions" could embody relevant State policies supporting enterprises.

He Guangwei, director of the National Tourism Administration, said that for many years, China's tourism industry has received all-out support and concern from the People's Congresses and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at various levels. During the period of the "two sessions" each year, tourism is the hot-spot area attracting the attention of NPC deputies and CPPCC members who have put forward many opinions and proposals with important reference value. The tourism industry, as a new growth point of the national economy, will play a still greater role in speeding up the economic restructuring and improving urban and rural people's living standards during the 10th Five-year Plan period. He hoped that NPC deputies and CPPCC members would show more concern for and give greater support to tourism industry, efforts will be made to achieve the goal of making China a tourism power in 2020.

CPPCC Member Zeng Peisheng, vice-president of the All-China Invention Association, presented a copy of written proposal and told the reporters, "Rejuvenating the country through science and education is a major event of merits and virtues for generations to come, it needs the support of leaders at various levels and the attention of the whole people. Our proposal is accelerating construction of a platform for popularization of intelligence education and blazing a trail for training students' creative capability and improving the quality of the whole people."

CPPCC Member Ni Guangnan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that he had an unfinished written proposal, which is a question concerning the protection of intellectual property rights. He said, "In the fast developing information industry, particular attention should be paid to the protection of intellectual property rights."

In the opinion of Chen Dongsheng, former director with the Western Development Research Center under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the large-scale development of the western region is a long-term strategic decision of the State.

In an interview with a reporter, Niu Yuru, elected as vice-chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region only a few days ago, indicated that if the discussions on the strategy for the large-scale development of the western region conducted at last year's "two sessions" was an issue concerning the exploration of orientation, then this year the task will be, with initial experiences gained, to discuss how to systematically and dramatically push forward this strategy. He maintained that the first Five-year Plan in the new century will mean spurring the massive western development to take an even more solid step forward.

Speaking about expectations of the "two session", most people hope that NPC deputies and CPPCC members would bring the topic regarding the eradication of corruption to the "two sessions", and would put forward practical methods for ruling the country according to law and administering the country by morality. Sociology Associate Professor Qian Minhui of Peking University said: The huge size of cases and defendants involved in the Xiamen smuggle case shows that there do exist many loopholes in some of our spheres, and that the supervision mechanism remains to be strengthened and perfected. This major case again shows that the key to solving this problem lies in how to effectively eliminate this corrupt phenomenon from the fountainhead.

Senior Engineer Ma Baolin of the Tsinghua Yongxin Environmental Protection Company said: "The more the Communist Party dares to remove the "malignant tumor" from its body, the more it demonstrates its greatness, and the more it gets support from the common people."

Xu Junwei with the research office of the Standing Committee of the Weifang City People's Congress in Shandong Province sent a letter to the News Website of the NPC, in which he suggested giving wider reports on the deputies' proposals and opinions they voiced at the "two sessions", thinking that this can not only enhance the readability of the reports, but can draw the people closer to the people's congress and its standing committee. He expressed the hope that the "two sessions" can further carry forward their democratic work style and make the "two sessions" more vivid and lively…

The ideas and suggestions advanced by various circles reflect the weight of the "two sessions" in China's political life.

(People’s Daily 03/03/2001)