Chinese Mandarin -

II. Citizens' Democratic Rights

While developing its economy, China has made energetic efforts to promote
the building of a socialist democratic and political system, consolidated
and perfected the people's congress system and the system of multi-party
cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the
Chinese Communist Party, and improved democracy at grass-roots units,
thus further guaranteeing citizens' democratic rights.

The people's congress system serves as China's fundamental political
system. The National People's Congress (NPC), the supreme state power
organ, decides fundamental state policies and principles, and formulates
basic national laws. In 1996, the NPC heard and deliberated the work
reports of the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme
People's Procuratorate; and examined and approved the Ninth Five-Year
Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Outline for the
Long-Range Objective Through the Year 2010. It also deliberated and
adopted 20 laws and decisions concerning legal issues, and strengthened
legal protection of citizens' rights. In the meantime, the NPC has
tight"iened inspection of and supervision over law enforcement. To date,
the Eighth NPC Standing Committee has inspected the enforcement of 17
laws. Various special NPC committees have examined the implementation of
13 laws. In 1996, led by eight vice-chairmen of the NPC Standing
Committee, 21 law-enforcement inspection groups were organized to tour
the country to supervise and inspect the enforcement of laws, including
the Agriculture Law, the Education Law, the Environmental Protection Law,
the Labor Law and the Decision on Strengthening Comprehensive Management
of Social Security, thus playing a supervisory role in implementing
relevant laws. The NPC pays close attention to safeguarding the rights of
its deputies, and earnestly and promptly handles proposals and
suggestions made by its deputies. During the Fifth Session of the Eighth
NPC held in 1997, 700 motions proposed by the deputies were received, 140
of which were submitted to relevant special committees for examination in
accordance with the decision of the session's presidium. The other 560
motions and the 1,289 proposals and suggestions made by the deputies were
submitted to relevant departments and units, which are responsible for
replying to the deputies.

The system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation led by
the Chinese Communist Party is an important component of China's
democratic and political system. Various non-Communist parties and
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) organizations
are playing an increasingly important role in political consultation,
democratic supervision and the participation in and deliberation of state
affairs. From the Fourth Plenum of the 13th Chinese Communist Party
Central Committee, which was held in 1989, to the end of 1996, the Party
Central Committee conducted more than 100 consultative activities of
various forms on various fundamental state policies and principles, on
the candidates for state leaders, and on various important policy
decisions, laws and regulations with the central committees of various
non-Communist parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce
and personages without party affiliation. In 1996, 41 investigation
reports or proposals were made by the CPPCC National Committee on
implementing the fundamental policies and principles for the Ninth
Five-Year Plan, reducing farmers' financial burdens, developing animal
husbandry on grasslands, reforming public health undertakings, and
promoting ethical and cultural progress and the building of democracy and
a legal system. The reports and proposals were adopted either by the
Party Central Committee or the State Council in formulating relevant
policies and regulations. Meanwhile, the CPPCC National Committee took
effective steps to do a better job of putting forward proposals and
actively reflect social conditions and popular feelings. Members of the
CPPCC National Committee have actively aired views and offered advices,
and increased the number of their proposals year by year, from 1,900
during the First Session of the Eighth CPPCC National Committee to 2,426
during the Committee's Fifth Session. Within this period, more than
10,000 proposals were put forth. During the Fourth Session of the Eighth
CPPCC National Committee, members put forward 2,380 proposals. By
February 14, 1997, 2,334 proposals had been handled, or 98.1 percent of
the total. Of those handled, 1,937 proposals, or 83 percent of the total,
have been solved or will be solved according to plan. With regard to the
problems that cannot be solved promptly because of constraints, various
executive units have offered explanations.

China has made vigorous efforts to promote the building of democracy in
grass-roots units in urban and rural areas to guarantee the democratic
rights of the residents there. In rural areas, efforts have been made to
continue to conduct rural grass-roots mass self-management activities
that focus on villagers' democratic elections, democratic policy-making,
democratic management and democratic supervision. In 1996, rural
villagers' committees in most provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities directly under the central government carried out a new
round of elections by adopting the method by which villagers could
directly cast votes to elect the committees. Many places adopted the
method by which every eligible voter in villages has the right to
nominate candidates, and the villagers' congresses or representatives of
villagers select formal candidates by secret ballot and through
preliminary elections. Candidates must run for elections. Voters will
mark their ballots in specially-designated rooms. Villagers' committees
regularly or periodically make public the affairs of the village to the
villagers. For example, by the end of 1996 in Hebei Province, 50,191 of
the 50,430 villages throughout the province had made public village
affairs in various forms and to varying extent, including six items such
as financial expenditures at the village level, grain purchased by the
state and the accumulation and retention of common funds by the
collective, the granting of plots for housing construction, electricity
rates and charges, family planning and objectives of village cadres
during their terms. Publicizing village affairs has increased the rights
of villagers to exercise democratic management of and democratic
supervision over villagers affairs. In cities, urban neighborhood
committees and their subsidiary organizations continued to be set up and
perfected. More than 98 percent of the residential areas all over the
country have established neighborhood committees in accordance with legal
procedures. In 1996, the overwhelming majority of neighborhood committees
carried out, according to law, elections of new committees by adopting
the method of directly casting votes by residents. Neighborhood
committees have further perfected the residents' meeting system.
Important affairs concerning the residential areas are decided by
residents' meetings. A sample survey of 127 cities shows that on average,
every neighborhood committee holds at least ten residents' meetings a
year. The building of democracy at grassroots levels serves as an
important reflection of democracy enjoyed by the Chinese people. All the
overseas people who have no prejudice but have a good understanding of
China's actual situation have fully acknowledged the building of
democracy at grassroots levels in China.

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