The Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body,
convened its fourth annual full session Friday.
Top Party and state leaders including Hu
Jintao, Wu
Bangguo, Wen
Jiabao, Zeng
Qinghong, Wu
Guanzheng, Li
Changchun and Luo Gan
were present when the session opened in the Great Hall of the
People in downtown Beijing at 3 PM.
More than 2,000 advisors participating in the session are
listening to a keynote report by CPPCC National Committee Chairman
Jia
Qinglin.
They will hear another report during the session on how their
proposals and suggestions regarding China's reforms and development
had been handled since last session in March 2005.
The top political consultants will also be present at the
upcoming fourth annual session of the 10th National People's
Congress (NPC) -- China's top legislature, hearing and discussing
the report on the government work delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao,
and discussing the draft guidelines of the
11th Five-Year (2006- 2010) Development?Guidelines for
National Economic and Social Development.
The fourth session is expected to last about ten days and
conclude on the morning of March 13.
Founded in 1949, the CPPCC consists of elite members of the
Chinese society who are willing to serve as the think tank for the
government and for the country's legislative and judicial
organs.
As an open forum where the ruling Communist Party, the non-
Communist parties of China and people with no party affiliations
discuss state affairs freely and on an equal footing, the CPPCC
National Committee has been the manifestation of China's socialist
democracy.
(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2006)