| State Organs |
| |
|
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that the country's central state organs comprise six components: the National People's Congress (NPC), the Presidency of the PRC, the State Council, the Central Military Commission, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. The five organs--the Presidency of the PRC, the State Council, the Central Military Commission, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate--are formed by the NPC, and are responsible to the NPC and its Standing Committee. National People's Congress The people's congress system, which is practiced at every level, is China's fundamental political system. The Constitution of the PRC provides that state power belongs to the people. The NPC and local people's congresses at all levels, formed through democratic elections, are organs representing the people in exercising state power. The NPC is the highest organ of state power, with the First NPC in 1954 marking the establishment of the system. The NPC consists of deputies elected by 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, special administrative regions and the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Every ethnic minority has an appropriate number of representatives in the NPC. The 10th NPC elected at the beginning of 2003 had a total of 2,985 deputies. In the year, eight deputies died and two were dismissed. According to an announcement of the NPC Standing Committee, the 10th NPC had 2,988 deputies by February 28, 2005. The NPC exercises the legislative power of the state, including amending and supervising the enforcement of the Constitution and enacting and amending basic laws and laws governing other matters. It also enjoys the power to elect, decide on and remove leaders and members of the highest state organs, oversee the government, and examine and decide on major state issues in line with the Constitution and other state laws. The administrative, judicial, procuratorial, military and other organs of the state are created by the organ of state power, and are therefore supervised by and responsible to it. The NPC is elected for a term of five years. It meets in session annually, convened by its Standing Committee. The NPC Standing Committee is the permanent body of the NPC. It exercises the highest state power when the NPC is not in session. The NPC Standing Committee is composed of chairperson, vice chairpersons, secretary general and members. Work of the 10th NPC Standing Committee Legislation The 10th NPC Standing Committee deliberated a total of 32 draft laws, decisions on legal issues and legal interpretations in 2004, adopting 22 of them. The Second Session of the 10th NPC adopted an amendment to the Constitution with an overwhelming majority of votes in favor in March 2004. The amendment establishes the guiding role of the important thought of the "Three Represents" in national political and social life and constitutionalizes the major theoretical viewpoints, guidelines and policies put forth at the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is a landmark in China's legislative work. After the amendment was approved, the NPC Standing Committee, in line with its provisions, amended the Organic Law of Local People's Congresses and Local People's Governments to extend the term of people's congresses at county and township levels from three years to five years. It also made decisions on the timing of elections of deputies to people's congresses at county and township levels, laying a legal basis for their synchronized reelections. In addition, relevant articles in the Land Administration Law were revised to conform to the provisions in the constitutional amendment on land requisition. The Standing Committee amended the Election Law, completed an overall revision of the Foreign Trade Law and the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, and gave major modifications to the Law on Prevention of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Wastes. To adapt to the implementation of the Administrative Licensing Law, the committee followed the principle of "priority on demand" to timely revise relevant provisions in the Highway Law, the Company Law, the Securities Law, the Bill Law, the Auction Law, the Law on Protection of Wildlife, the Fishery Law, the Seed Law and the Regulations on Academic Degrees. In the year, the committee also deliberated and adopted the Law on Electronic Signature, the Law on Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization, the Law on Renewable Resources and Amendment V to the Criminal Law. In early April 2004, the Standing Committee gave interpretations for two clauses of annex of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in accordance with the law. Later in the same month, the committee adopted a decision on methods for selecting Hong Kong's chief executive in 2007 and forming the Legislative Council in 2008. The 13th Meeting of the committee unanimously adopted a motion on the draft Anti-Secession Law and decided to submit the draft law to the 2005 Session of the 10th NPC for deliberation. Supervisory Role In 2004, the Standing Committee carried out nationwide inspections on the enforcement of six laws, and heard and deliberated 11 special-topic work reports from the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, effectively supporting and promoting their administration by law and safeguarding people's interests. The Standing Committee organized three panels respectively for inspection on the enforcement of the Land Administration Law and research of agricultural policies and financial aids to farmers, each headed by a vice chairperson, to inspect the enforcement of relevant laws in 15 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. Also, the Standing Committee organized inspections on the enforcement of the Trade Union Law, which facilitated organizational construction of grassroots trade union organizations and enhanced their role in safeguarding interests of the working population according to law. In 2004, membership of trade union organizations nationwide increased by 13.5 million, or 11 percent, over 2003. The number of trade union organizations in non-state enterprises also registered a 7.2 percent growth of more than 100,000. Deputies' Motions and S uggestions During the Second Session of the 10th NPC, its presidium assigned 641 motions raised by various delegations and groups of deputies to seven NPC special committees, including the Legal Affairs Committee, for examination. In the process of handling those motions, eight laws involved in 53 motions were adopted by the Standing Committee, drafts of other eight laws involved in 34 motions were submitted to the Standing Committee for deliberation, and 51 legislations involved in 357 motions were put into the Standing Committee's legislative timetable or annual legislative plan. In terms of the 6,005 suggestions, complaints and ideas raised by deputies during the Second Session of the 10th NPC, relevant departments have put them into practice and notified concerned deputies of the developments case by case. External Relations In 2004, the NPC received 60 parliamentary delegations from 42 countries. Meanwhile, members of the meeting of the chairperson and vice chairpersons of the Standing Committee headed delegations to visit 23 countries. The establishment of mechanisms of regular exchange with foreign parliaments was an important achievement of the NPC in strengthening external relations in 2004. In addition to the U.S. House of Representatives and French and Italian parliaments, the NPC formally launched the mechanism with the U.S. Senate in 2004, followed by the inauguration of similar arrangements with Russian, Japanese and German legislative branches in the first half of 2005. The NPC's communication with parliaments of EU members and East European countries and the European Parliament were deepened. Its exchanges with parliaments of neighboring countries developed continuously. Cooperation between the NPC and parliaments of African countries and other developing countries increased remarkably. The NPC actively participated in multilateral activities sponsored by international and regional organizations such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace, played a role in the formulation of rules of procedures of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, and became a permanent observer of the Latin American Parliament. The Third Session of the 10th NPC The Third Session of the 10th NPC was held in Beijing on March 5-14. The opening ceremony saw the attendance of 2,904 deputies, and 2,901 deputies were present at the closing ceremony. Adoption of the Anti-Secession Law On March 14, 2005, the Third Session of the 10th NPC adopted the Anti-Secession Law, with 2,896 votes in favor, none against and two abstentions. The law is enacted to oppose secessionist activities and promote China's reunification. The Anti-Secession Law is a special legislation for Taiwan. It provides a strong defense built by the entire Chinese people to guard against, oppose and check the frequent threat and provocation of "Taiwan independence" secessionist activities with the resolute and unswerving determination to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The law, crystallizing the common will of all the Chinese people in legal form, has further maintained and safeguarded the fact widely accepted by the world that "the mainland and Taiwan belong to the one and the same China" and has therefore maintained the status quo of relations across the Taiwan Strait as well as cross-strait peace and stability in an even stronger manner. The Anti-Secession Law precisely states that it encourages and promotes economic and cultural exchanges between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, boosts the three direct cross-strait links of trade, mail and air and shipping services, actively promotes consultations and negotiations on equal footing across the strait and fully manifests the mainland's sincerity that all issues can be discussed on the basis of the one-China principle. It also states, "To reunify the country through peaceful means best serves the fundamental interests of the compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The state shall do its utmost with maximum sincerity to achieve a peaceful reunification." Acceptation of Jiang Zemin's Resignation In light of relevant provisions of the Constitution, the session accepted Jiang Zemin's request to resign from the chairmanship of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, and spoke highly of Jiang's outstanding contributions to the Party, the state and the people. The session elected Hu Jintao to succeed Jiang as chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, and appointed a new vice chairman of the commission and added four new members to it. Deliberation of Related Reports The session approved the Government Work Report delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao, on behalf of the State Council. The lawmakers expressed satisfaction with the work of the State Council in 2004 and endorsed the master plan for social and economic development in 2005 and the works of the government. The session also adopted resolutions, endorsing the Report on the Implementation of the 2004 Plan for National Economic and Social Development and on the Draft 2005 Plan for National Economic and Social Development, the Report on the Implementation of the Central and Local Budgets for 2004 and on the Draft Central and Local Budgets for 2005, the Work Report of the NPC Standing Committee, the Work Report of the Supreme People's Court and the Work Report of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Handling of Deputies' Motions By 12 a.m. of March 10, the session's secretariat received a total of 991 motions put forward by various delegations and groups of deputies. Compared with previous NPC sessions, no motion was translated into suggestions, complaints and ideas received from deputies this year. It was the first time that all motions complied with the requirements set by the NPC since the motion delivery system was introduced at the First Session of the Sixth NPC in 1983. According to the secretariat, 512 of the 991 motions were attached with drafts of laws, making up 51.6 percent of the total. The motions were concerned with the administrative law, economic law, social law, constitutional law, criminal law, civil and commercial law, and litigation and non-litigation law. Of them, 452, or 45.6 percent of the total, proposed new legislations, and 539, or 54.4 percent, called for amendment to existing laws. President of the People's Republic of China The president and vice president of the PRC are elected by the NPC. The NPC has the power to remove from office the president and vice president of the PRC. The president and vice president of the PRC are elected to the same length of term as the NPC and shall serve no more than two consecutive terms. The president of the PRC, in pursuance of the decisions of the NPC and its Standing Committee, promulgates statutes; appoints or removes the premier, vice premiers, state councilors, ministers in charge of ministries or commissions, the auditor general and the secretary general of the State Council; confers state medals and titles of honor; issues orders of special pardons; proclaims martial law; proclaims a state of war; and, issues mobilization orders. The president of the PRC also receives credentials offered by foreign diplomatic representatives on behalf of the PRC and, in pursuance of the decisions of the NPC Standing Committee, appoints or recalls plenipotentiary representatives abroad and ratifies or abrogates treaties and important agreements concluded with foreign states. Previous presidents of the PRC were Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Soong Ching Ling (honorary), Li Xiannian, Yang Shangkun and Jiang Zemin. Hu Jintao is incumbent president of the PRC and Zeng Qinghong is incumbent vice president. State Council The State Council, or the Central People's Government, is the executive body of the highest organ of state power and the highest organ of state administration. It takes responsibility and reports its work to the NPC and its Standing Committee. The State Council is composed of the premier, vice premiers, state councilors, ministers in charge of ministries or commissions, the auditor general and the secretary general. The premier of the State Council is nominated by the president, decided by the NPC, and appointed and removed by the president. Other members of the State Council are nominated by the premier, decided by the NPC or its Standing Committee, and appointed and removed by the president. The term of office of the State Council is of the same length as the NPC, and its members shall serve no more than two consecutive terms. Previous premiers of the State Council were Zhou Enlai, Hua Guofeng, Zhao Ziyang, Li Peng and Zhu Rongji. Wen Jiabao is incumbent premier of the State Council. Incumbent vice premiers are Huang Ju, Wu Yi (female), Zeng Peiyan and Hui Liangyu (Hui). Zhou Yongkang, Cao Gangchuan, Tang Jiaxuan, Hua Jianmin and Chen Zhili (female) are incumbent state councilors. The others in the lineup of the State Council are: Central Military Commission The Central Military Commission (CMC) is the highest military leading organ of the PRC. It directs the armed forces of the country. The CMC is composed of the chairman, vice chairmen and members. The chairman of the CMC is elected to the same length of term as the NPC, but there is no restriction on his tenure of office. The armed forces of the PRC are composed of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the Chinese People's Armed Police Force and the militia. On March 13, 2005, the Third Session of the 10th NPC elected Hu Jintao as CMC chairman. Nominated by Chairman Hu, the session also adjusted and enlarged the CMC composition, which currently consists of vice chairmen of Guo Boxiong, Cao Gangchuan and Xu Caihou, and members of Liang Guanglie, Li Jinai, Liao Xilong, Chen Bingde, Qiao Qingchen, Zhang Dingfa and Jing Zhiyuan. Supreme People's Court People's courts form the judicial organs in China. The state sets up the Supreme People's Court, local people's courts at all levels, and military and other special courts. The Supreme People's Court is the highest judicial organ of the country. It is responsible to the NPC and its Standing Committee, and reports its work to them. The Supreme People's Court independently exercises the highest judicial power according to law and is not subject to interference by any administrative organ, social organization or individual. According to the Constitution and statutes, the Supreme People's Court has three responsibilities: -- Handling cases that have the greatest influence, cases of appeals against judgments and rulings of higher courts and cases it deems it should deal with; -- Supervising the administration of justice by local people's courts and military and other special courts at all levels, overruling wrong judgments they have made, and deciding to review the cases itself or to direct the lower-level courts to conduct a retrial; and -- Giving judicial interpretation of questions concerning special applications of laws in judicial proceedings, which must be carried out throughout the country. Work of the Supreme People's Court On March 9, 2005, President Xiao Yang reported the work of the Supreme People's Court to the Third Session of the 10th NPC. In 2004, the Supreme People's Court concluded a total of 2,923 cases of second instance, review of death sentences by lower-level courts, retrial and enforcement. Of all, there were 400 cases of second instance and review of death sentences by lower-level courts that involve crimes of endangering national security, currency counterfeiting, smuggling, financial fraudulence, issuance of false value-added tax invoices to help others dodge taxes, drug-related crimes, and embezzlement of public funds and bribery. It also ruled on 611 appeals on civil cases concerning lending contract, real estate dispute, securities, bills, construction contract, and rights and interests of shareholders, involving 15.31 billion yuan; settled 78 cases of intellectual property rights, an increase of 16.4 percent; and closed 106 administrative cases and cases of state compensation. Through the year, the court also handled 147,665 cases of petition, up 23.6 percent year on year. It directly investigated 1,542 cases of them. The court issued 21 legal interpretations in 2004, concerning the handling of cases of intellectual property rights, Internet porn, demolition of public telecommunications infrastructures, destruction of forestry resources, as well as dispute over engineering and technological contracts. The Supreme People's Court supported and respected the independent and fair trial of cases by local courts at various levels, while enhanced supervision and guidance of their work. In a year, local courts handed down verdicts to a total of 7,873,745 cases of various kinds. In the cases concluded by local courts at various levels, 1,334,792 cases were settled through mediation, making up 31 percent of the total. The percentage exceeded 70 in many local courts. Through the year, grassroots courts throughout the country, in conjunction with relevant departments, intensified training to people's mediators, with attendance of relevant courses reaching 5.14 million. Courts at various levels paid great attention to fair justice. In the year, they acquitted a total of 2,996 people who could not be proven guilty in cases of private and public prosecution. They also appointed counsels to 91,296 defendants who were qualified for legal assistance, effectively guarding their procedural rights according to law. The courts seriously carried out the systems of weekly reporting and of public supervision of clearance of cases of extended detention, correcting 873 cases of extended detention through the year, involving 2,432 people. By December 31, 2004, all cases of illegal extended detention were cleared. In 2004, the courts applied legal aid to 263,860 cases, with total litigation fees reduced, deferred and exempted reaching 1.09 billion yuan. The figures rose 15.6 percent and 3.1 percent year on year, respectively. In all the cases of claiming support for children or elders, as well as those brought by rural residents living on government subsidies and urban residents receiving subsistence allowances, the litigation fees were exempted. Supreme People's Procuratorate People's procuratorates are organs for legal supervision in China. The state sets up the Supreme People's Procuratorate, local people's procuratorates at all levels, and military and other special procuratorates. The Supreme People's Procuratorate is the highest procuratorial organ in China. It is responsible to the NPC and its Standing Committee, and reports its work to them. The Supreme People's Procuratorate independently exercises the highest procuratorial power according to law and is not subject to interference by any administrative organ, social organization or individual. According to the Constitution and statutes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate exercises the following functions and duties: --Leading the work of local people's procuratorates and special people's procuratorates at all levels; -- Directly accepting and handling according to law the criminal cases involving corruption, bribery, tort to citizens' democratic rights and misconduct in office, placing them on file for investigation, and deciding whether to initiate prosecution or not; -- Performing legal supervision over the judicial proceeding of courts and the investigation of criminal cases; -- Deciding on arrests and prosecution of major criminal cases according to law; -- Performing legal supervision over the judicial activities in criminal cases; -- Lodging protests according to law against effective but wrong judgments and rulings made by people's courts at various levels to the Supreme People's Court; --Exercising legal supervision over activities conducted in prisons and reform-through-labor institutions; -- Providing judicial interpretations of questions concerning special applications of laws in procuratorial work; and -- Sponsoring negotiations with foreign procuratorial departments and conducting judicial assistance. Work of the Supreme People's Procuratorate On March 9, 2005, Procurator General Jia Chunwang reported the work of the Supreme People's Procuratorate to the Third Session of the 10th NPC. In 2004, procuratorates at various levels approved the arrest of 811,102 criminal suspects investigated by public security and state security departments and initiated public prosecution against 867,186 people, up 8.3 percent and 9.3 percent over the previous year, respectively. The procuratorates were active in regulating and rectifying market order and intensified crackdown on grave economic crimes of smuggling, financial fraud, and tax dodging and evasion. Through the year, they approved the arrest of 20,425 suspects and prosecuted 22,179 people for economic crimes, 6.3 percent and 3.4 percent higher than a year earlier, respectively. Of this, the arrestees and defendants on charge of infringing upon registered trademarks, patents and copyrights accounted for 602 and 638 people, up 13.4 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively, year on year. In strict line with the guiding principles of the CPC Central Committee to fight corruption, the procuratorial organs also focused on job-related crimes and brought 43,757 government employees under investigation on related charges, a 0.6 percent year-one-year increase. Among the investigated officials, 35,031 were involved in crimes concerning bribe-taking and embezzlement of public funds, and 8,726 were probed for dereliction of duties and abuse of power. The procuratorates prosecuted 30,788 people involved in economic crimes and retrieved about 4 .56 billion yuan in direct economic losses. The investigated cases of bribe-taking and embezzlement of public funds of more than 1 million yuan totaled 1,275 in 2004, up 4.9 percent over the previous year. A total of 2,960 officials at or above county or section level were brought under investigation for corruption charges, including 198 heads of departments and bureaus under provincial governments or ministries and 11 provincial and ministerial leaders, and prosecution was instituted against 1,980 of them within the year. Efforts were made to strengthen supervision on litigation activities. In 2004, the procuratorates, according to law, propelled investigation organs to file 20,742 cases meeting the requirements of registration but failing to be registered. They also repealed 2,699 wrongly registered cases. In performing legal supervision over the judicial activities in criminal cases, they lodged protests against 3,063 effective but wrong judgments and rulings and raised 1,387 suggestions on rectifying law breaches. By the end of the year, procuratorates across the country settled 1,209,247 cases of reduction of jail terms, release on parole and warrant of medical treatment on bail. The procuratorial organs enhanced legal guarantee of human rights. To safeguard the right of appeal of litigants, they reexamined according to law all cases in which the litigants rejected procuratorial decisions and decided to correct 786 of them. Through the year, all links of the procuratorial investigation prevented extended detention, and procuratorial organs in 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, compared with 14 in 2003, attained the goal of eliminating extended detention in litigation proceedings. |