CPPCC innovates work mechanism to better handle proposals

Forty and seventy-three, those were the numbers of major proposals raised during the annual sessions of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in 2019 and 2020.

These proposals were major proposals reflecting the problems in dire need to be solved by the Communist Party of China and the government, and issues requested to be improved by the people. They were of huge significance and very feasible.

In the past year, these major proposals covered a wider range of areas, and were handled under higher-level supervision.

The country innovated the ways to supervise the handling of the proposals, improved relevant coordination rules, and focused more on the results and quality of the supervision. As a result, many members of the CPPCC National Committee said it was easier to submit proposals in the past year, and the mechanism was of higher efficiency and better quality. The supervision was also more effective, they added. Such achievement was a result of how the CPPCC National Committee has continuously innovated its work mechanism.

On Nov. 27 last year, a symposium to supervise the implementation of a proposal on enhancing cultural relics and heritage protection was held at the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA). The proposal No. 3237, was raised during the 3rd session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee by Gao Jie, a member of the CPPCC National Committee and researcher with the Institute of High Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

A number of suggestions was raised at the symposium, such as to enhance the protection over grotto temples along the Silk Road, to establish a national art history museum, and to rescue artworks and collections of aging artists.

Different from previous supervision forms, the symposium was held at the NCHA, the organization that practically implements the proposal, for on-site supervision. It was led by Shao Hong, vice chairperson of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, and joined by over 10 members of the 13th CPPCC National Committee.

Apart from inspections, investigations, coordinating meetings and major proposal abstracts, to visit organizations responsible for proposal implementation was also prescribed in the 2020 version of the measures of the CPPCC National Committee to select and supervise the handling of major proposals.

Such visits can help CPPCC members better reflect on new situations and problems in their work and investigations, and raise more targeting suggestions. The organizations responsible for implementing the proposals can also get the feedback from CPPCC members. Thus, suggestions will be better taken, and more consensus will be built.

Many similar innovations have been made by the CPPCC National Committee since the last year. For instance, to better cope with COVID-19, it established a green channel for submitting pandemic-related proposals. It also raised the proportion of major proposals from 1 percent to 1.5 percent. Besides, it has been made into a convention that CPPCC National Committee chairpersons lead teams to supervise the handling of major proposals.

Proposals are an important manner for the CPPCC to fulfill its duties, as well as a work that concerns its overall development. The quality of proposals reflects how CPPCC members have fulfilled their duties, and the handling of the proposals decides whether the advantages of the consultative mechanism can be translated into better national governance.

Many CPPCC members felt that the innovation of the proposal mechanism has made communication easier and improved the efficiency of proposal handling.