Mobile platform enables online consultation among China’s political advisors

By Li Xinyi from People’s Daily

China’s political advisors can make advices and join discussions in real time via a mobile platform during this year’s gathering of the top political advisory body, a spokesperson told the press conference last Saturday.

It provides an innovative method for political advisors to discuss on state affairs, added Guo Weimin, spokesperson for the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

The application, which was launched in August last year, includes several columns, such as top news, contact information, announcements, theme discussion, group chat and documents, according to the spokesperson.

Political advisors are able to express their opinions and suggestions and interact with others on a specific topic via voice messages, texts, photos and videos. Suggestions would be summarized and filed by the general office of the CPPCC National Committee from those discussions.

“It’s a new way for political advisors to fulfill their duties,” said Guo. “To date, a majority of the political advisors have downloaded the application, and they use it frequently.”

The launch of the application is an important measure to facilitate consultative democracy, Guo noted.

The application can be used to collect all kinds of information. In addition, discussion groups on key agendas, such as prior tasks of the Communist Party of China and the state, health care and environment protection, have been set up, in which political advisors can join discussion at any time.

“Such a change enables the CPPCC National Committee to keep up with the Internet Plus model,” said the spokesperson.

More than 1,400 political advisors have participated in 16 group discussions since it was launched last year, and sent over 4,000 messages in the application. A total of 106 advices related to 10 issues have been summed up by the general office of the CPPCC National Committee, he added.

The body will set up a theme discussion group during this year’s session, which the members can join in and after the meetings, have online and offline discussions about the work report of the CPPCC National Committee’s Standing Committee and a report on how the Standing Committee has handled proposals put forward by political advisors, Guo said.