Two Sessions, a window into understanding Chinese democracy.

The Two Sessions, that is, the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China and the annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), are a window into understanding Chinese democracy.

This year coincides with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the NPC and the 75th anniversary of the creation of the CPPCC. Nearly 3 NPC representatives and more than 2 CPPCC members met in Beijing earlier this month to discuss the country's governance. 

In recent years, China's comprehensive process people's democracy has attracted the attention of the international community. According to this concept, the Chinese conduct elections, consultations, decision-making, administration, and supervision in a democratic manner based on the law.

We take elections as an example. Representatives of the people's assemblies at all levels (national, provincial, municipal, district, and the most basic) are elected by the people, accountable to the people, and subject to the people's supervision. The 3 representatives of the NPC exercised the rights of deliberation, proposal, voting, and election on behalf of more than 1,4 billion Chinese people.

Furthermore, the identities and professions of the APN representatives and CCPPCh members are broad and diverse. Therefore, their proposals and suggestions are highly representative across all sectors.

Democracy is not a decorative ornament, but a system for solving the people's problems. Therefore, implementing the proposals and suggestions from the Two Sessions is of utmost importance.

Statistics show that last year, departments of China's State Council adopted nearly 4,7 proposals and suggestions offered by the Two Sessions and drafted more than 2 policies based on them, effectively promoting high-quality economic development and improving people's lives.

For example, in 2023, the NPC representative, Pan Jiaofeng, proposed that the country needs to develop unified administrative standards on autonomous vehicle technology. Several relevant departments of the Chinese government prioritized this issue and promoted the dissemination and application of relevant industry guidelines after many discussions with the representative.

One of the highlights of this year's Two Sessions is that it was the first time the government report used Braille. Wang Yongcheng, the first blind representative of the NPC, said that the country's democracy had become tangible.

Finally, many analysts have indicated that China's progress is reflected not only in its economic development, but also in the success of its democratic system.

Translation: Luis Zhao

Review by: Patricia Comunello