National People's Congress

"Chinese legislature" redirects here. For the legislature of the Republic of China, see Legislative Yuan.
A similar term is "National Congress", which is a less common translation of People's Political Consultative Conference.
For the political party in Guyana, see People's National Congress.
National People's Congress
全国人民代表大会
Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì
12th National People's Congress
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Leadership
Zhang Dejiang, CPC
Since 14 March 2013
Structure
Seats 2,987
Political groups
Elections
Last election
 March 5–17, 2013
1st Plenary Session
Meeting place
Great Hall of the People, Beijing
Website
npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/
National People's Congress
Simplified Chinese 全国人民代表大会
Traditional Chinese 全國人民代表大會
Literal meaning Nationwide People Representative Assembly
China
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The National People's Congress (usually abbreviated NPC) is the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,987 members in 2013, it is the largest parliamentary body in the world.[1] Under China's current Constitution, the NPC is structured as a unicameral legislature, with the power to legislate, the power to oversee the operations of the government, and the power to elect the major officers of state. The NPC and the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a consultative body whose members represent various social groups, are the main deliberative bodies of China, and are often referred to as the Lianghui (Two Assemblies).

The NPC is elected for a term of five years. It holds annual sessions every spring, usually lasting from 10 to 14 days, in the Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The NPC's sessions are usually timed to occur with the meetings of the CPPCC, and these annual meetings provide an opportunity for the officers of state to review past policies and present future plans to the nation. The 2014 NPC annual session was held on March 5, 2014.[2]

In theory, the NPC is the highest organ of state power in China, and all four PRC constitutions have vested it with great lawmaking powers. Since the 1990s, the NPC has become a forum for mediating policy differences between different parts of the Party, the government, and groups of society. However, it is still reckoned as a rubber-stamp for decisions already made by the state's executive organs and the Communist Party of China.[3] One of its members, Hu Xiaoyan, told the BBC in 2009 that she has no power to help her constituents. She was quoted as saying, "As a parliamentary representative, I don't have any real power."[4]

Powers and duties

The NPC has a collection of functions and powers, including electing the President of the People's Republic of China and approving the appointment of the Premier of the State Council as well as approving the work reports of top officials. The constitution of the National People's Congress provides for most of its power to be exercised on a day-to-day basis by its Standing Committee.

The drafting process of NPC legislation is governed by the Organic Law of the NPC (1982) and the NPC Procedural Rules (1989). It begins with a small group, often of outside experts, who begin a draft. Over time, this draft is considered by larger and larger groups, with an attempt made to maintain consensus at each step of the process. By the time the full NPC or NPCSC meets to consider the legislation, the major substantive elements of the draft legislation have largely been agreed to. However, minor wording changes to the draft are often made at this stage. The process ends with a formal vote by the Standing Committee of the NPC or by the NPC in a plenary session.

The NPC mainly exists to give legal sanction to decisions already made at the highest levels of the government. However, it is not completely without influence. It functions as a forum in which legislative proposals are drafted and debated with input from different parts of the government and outside technical experts. However, there are a wide range of issues for which there is no consensus within the Party and over which different parts of the party or government have different opinions. Over these issues the NPC has often become a forum for debating ideas and for achieving consensus.

In practice, although the final votes on laws of the NPC often return a high affirmative vote, a great deal of legislative activity occurs in determining the content of the legislation to be voted on. A major bill such as the Securities Law can take years to draft, and a bill sometimes will not be put before a final vote if there is significant opposition to the measure.[5] With respect to proposals by the State Council of the People's Republic of China, the NPC has rejected a bill on maritime safety, and it is no longer uncommon for the State Council to amend or withdraw a bill on account of NPC opposition as with the case of the fuel tax[6][7][8] and the draft food safety law[9] which have been repeatedly blocked by the NPC.

One important constitutional principle which is stated in Article 8 of the Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China is that an action can become a crime only as a consequence of a law passed by the full NPC and that other organs of the Chinese government do not have the power to criminalize activity. This principle was used to overturn police regulations on custody and repatriation and has been used to call into question the legality of re-education through labor.In practice, there is no mechanism to verify constitutionality of statute laws, meaning that local administrations could bypass the constitution through Administrative laws.

Proceedings

The NPC meets for about two weeks each year at the same time as the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, usually in the Spring. The combined sessions have been known as the two meetings. Between these sessions, power is exercised by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress which contains about 150 members.

The sessions have become media events because it is at the plenary sessions that the Chinese leadership produces work reports. Although the NPC has thus far never failed to approve a work report or candidate nominated by the Party, these votes are no longer unanimous. It is considered extremely embarrassing for the approval vote to fall below 70%, which occurred several times in the mid-1990s. More recently, work reports have been vetted with NPC delegates beforehand to avoid this embarrassment.

In addition, during NPC sessions the Chinese leadership holds press conferences with foreign reporters, and this is one of the few opportunities Western reporters have of asking unscripted questions of the Chinese leadership.

A major bill often takes years to draft, and a bill sometimes will not be put before a final vote if there is significant opposition to the measure. An example of this is the Property Law of the People's Republic of China which was withdrawn from the 2006 legislative agenda after objections that the law did not do enough to protect state property. China's laws are usually submitted for approval after at most three reviews at the NPC Standing Committee. However, the debate of the Property Law has spanned nine years, receiving a record seven reviews at the NPC Standing Committee and stirring hot debates across the country. The long-awaited and highly contested Property Law was finally approved at the Fifth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC) on March 16. Among the 2,889 deputies attending the closing session, 2,799 voted for it, 52 against it, 37 abstained and one didn't vote.

Election and membership

The NPC consists of about 3,000 delegates. Delegates to the National People's Congress are elected for five-year terms via a multi-tiered representative electoral system. Delegates are elected by the provincial people's assemblies, who in turn are elected by lower level assemblies, and so on through a series of tiers to the local people's assemblies which are directly elected by the electorate.

There is a limit on the number of candidates in proportion to the number of seats available. At the national level, for example, a maximum of 110 candidates are allowed per 100 seats; at the provincial level, this ratio is 120 candidates per 100 seats. This ratio increases for each lower level of people's assemblies, until the lowest level, the village level, has no limit on the number of candidates for each seat. However, the Congress website says "In an indirect election, the number of candidates should exceed the number to be elected by 20% to 50%."

Membership of previous National People's Congresses

Congress Year Total deputies Female deputies Female % Minority deputies Minority %
First 1954 1226 147 12 178 14.5
Second 1959 1226 150 12.2 179 14.6
Third 1964 3040 542 17.8 372 12.2
Fourth 1975 2885 653 22.6 270 9.4
Fifth 1978 3497 742 21.2 381 10.9
Sixth 1983 2978 632 21.2 403 13.5
Seventh 1988 2978 634 21.3 445 14.9
Eighth 1993 2978 626 21 439 14.8
Ninth 1998 2979 650 21.8 428 14.4
Tenth 2003 2985 604 20.2 414 13.9
Eleventh 2008 2987 637 21.3 411 13.8
Twelfth 2013 2987 699 23.4 409 13.7

Sources:[10][11][12][13]

Hong Kong and Macau delegations

Hong Kong has had a separate delegation since the 9th NPC in 1998, and Macau since the 10th NPC in 2003. The delegates from Hong Kong and Macau are elected via an electoral college rather than by popular vote, but do include significant political figures who are residing in the regions.[14] The electoral colleges which elect Hong Kong and Macau NPC members are largely similar in composition to the bodies which elect the chief executives of those regions. The current method of electing SAR delegations began after the handovers of sovereignty to the PRC. Between 1975 and the handovers, both Hong Kong and Macau were represented by delegations elected by the Guangdong Provincial Congress.

Taiwan delegation

The NPC has included a "Taiwan" delegation since the 4th NPC in 1975, in line with the PRC's claim that Taiwan is a part of China. Prior to the 2000s, the Taiwan delegates in the NPC were mostly Taiwanese members of the Chinese Communist Party who fled Taiwan after 1947. They are now either deceased or extremely old, and in the last three Congresses, only one of the "Taiwan" delegates was actually born in Taiwan (Chen Yunying), wife of economist Justin Yifu Lin); the remainder are "second-generation Taiwan compatriots", whose parents or grandparents came from Taiwan.[15] The current NPC Taiwan delegation was elected by a "Consultative Electoral Conference" (协商选举会议) chosen at the last session of the 11th NPC.[16]

The 12th National People's Congress held in 2013

PLA delegation

The People's Liberation Army has had a large delegation since the founding of the NPC, making up anywhere from 4 percent of the total delegates (3rd NPC), to 17 percent (4th NPC). Since the 5th NPC, it has usually held about 9 percent of the total delegate seats, and is consistently the largest delegation in the NPC. In the 12th NPC, for example, the PLA delegation has 268 members; the next largest delegation is Shandong, with 175 members.[17]

Ethnic Minorities and Overseas Chinese delegates

For the first three NPCs, there was a special delegation for returned overseas Chinese, but this was eliminated starting in the 4th NPC, and although overseas Chinese remain a recognized group in the NPC, they are now scattered among the various delegations. The PRC also recognizes 55 minority ethnic groups in China, and there is at least one delegate belonging to each of these groups in the current (12th) NPC.[18] These delegates frequently belong to delegations from China's autonomous regions, such as Tibet and Xinjiang, but delegates from some groups, such as the Hui people (Chinese Muslims) belong to many different delegations.

Standing Committee

A permanent organ of the NPC and elected by the NPC deputies consisting of:[19]

Structure

Special committees

In addition to the Standing Committee, nine special committees have been established under the NPC to study issues related to specific fields. These committees include:

Administrative bodies

A number of administrative bodies have also been established to provide support for the work of the NPC. These include:

Presidium

The Presidium of the NPC is a 178-member body of the NPC.[20] It is composed of senior officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the state, non-Communist parties and All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, those without party affiliation, heads of central government agencies and people's organizations, leading members of all the 35 delegations to the NPC session including those from Hong Kong and Macao and the People's Liberation Army.[20] It nominates the President and Vice President of China, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the NPC, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and the President of the Supreme People's Court for election by the NPC.[21] Its functions are defined in the Organic Law of the NPC, but not how it is composed.[21]

Relationship with the Communist Party

The ruling Communist Party of China maintains effective control over the composition of people's congresses at various levels, especially the National People's Congress, through this system. At the local level, there is a considerable amount of decentralization in the candidate preselection process, with room for local in-party politics and for participation by non-Communist candidates. The structure of the tiered electoral system makes it difficult for a candidate to become a member of the higher level people's assemblies without the support from politicians in the lower tier, while at the same time making it impossible for the party bureaucracy to completely control the election process.

The Great Hall of the People, where the NPC convenes

One such mechanism is the limit on the number of candidates in proportion to the number of seats available. At the national level, for example, a maximum of 110 candidates are allowed per 100 seats; at the provincial level, this ratio is 120 candidates per 100 seats. This ratio increases for each lower level of people's congresses, until the lowest level, the village level, has no limit on the number of candidates for each seat. However, the Congress website says "In an indirect election, the number of candidates should exceed the number to be elected by 20% to 50%." The practice of having more candidates than seats for NPC delegate positions has become standard, and it is different from Soviet practice in which all delegates positions were selected by the Party center. Although the limits on member selection allows the Party leadership to block unacceptable candidates, it also causes unpopular candidates to be removed in the electoral process. Direct and explicit challenges to the rule of the Communist Party are not tolerated, but are unlikely in any event due to the control the party center has on delegate selection.

Furthermore, the constitution of the National People's Congress provides for most of its power to be exercised on a day-to-day basis by its Standing Committee. Due to its overwhelming majority in the Congress, the Communist Party has total control over the composition of the Standing Committee, thereby controlling the actions of the National People's Congress.

Although Party approval is in effect essential for membership in the NPC, approximately a third of the seats are by convention reserved for non-Communist Party members. This includes technical experts and members of the smaller allied parties. While these members do provide technical expertise and a somewhat greater diversity of views, they do not function as a political opposition.

The NPC has not always endorsed legislation placed before it. In 1993, the NPC refused to consider constitutional amendments proposed by the Chinese Communist Party on the grounds that non-governmental organizations such as the CCP do not have authority to propose legislation. Also in 1994, the Eighth National People's Congress Standing Committee included "Income and Property Law," in the official legislative plan, but was not able to bring it to a vote due to opposition.[22] Also efforts to impose a national gasoline tax to finance construction of the tollways met with opposition and it has been difficult for both the Communist Party of China and the State Council to pass such a tax through the National People's Congress.

See also

References

  1. ↑ International Parliamentary Union. "IPU PARLINE Database: General Information". Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  2. ↑ "NPC & CPPCC 2014 _". China.org.cn. Retrieved 2015-05-07.
  3. ↑ "How China is Ruled: National People's Congress, BBC, Country Profile: China
  4. ↑ Bristow, Michael, "Chinese delegate has 'no power'", BBC News, Beijing, Wednesday, 4 March 2009
  5. ↑ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/20110714024016/http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/3073_npcandthesecuritieslaw.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/20110811124144/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18214265.html. Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "Adoption of a fuel tax system is not all that obvious - ECF Your Window On China Energy Market". Energychinaforum.com. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  8. ↑ "National People's Congress Standing Committee of The Controversial Travel Tax". Sooperarticles.com. 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  9. ↑ "Top legislature postpones debate on food safety draft law_China National People's Congress". Npc.gov.cn. 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  10. ↑ "Number of Deputies to All the Previous National People's Congresses in 2005 Statistical Yearbook, source: National Bureau of Statistics of China". Retrieved 2010-06-30.
  11. ↑ "十一届全国人大代表将亮相:结构优化 构成广泛". Npc.people.com.cn. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
  12. ↑ 12th Congress information from International Parliamentary Union. "IPU PARLINE Database: General Information". Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  13. ↑ Xinhua News Agency. "New nat'l legislature sees more diversity". Npc.gov.cn. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
  14. ↑ "Of Iron Or Rubber?: People's Deputies of Hong Kong to the National People's Congress by Fu Hualing, D. W. Choy :: SSRN". Papers.ssrn.com. doi:10.2139/ssrn.958845. Retrieved 2015-05-07.
  15. ↑ Huaxia News (2012-03-08). "Taiwanese delegate Zhang Xiong: "Stenographer" to the NPC Taiwan Delegation". Big5.huaxia.com. Retrieved 2013-06-10. (in Chinese)
  16. ↑ Xinhua News (2013-01-09). "Taiwan Delegates to the 12th National People's Conference Elected". News.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 2013-06-10. (in Chinese)
  17. ↑ National People's Congress (2013-02-27). "Delegate list for the 12th National People's Congress". Npc.gov.cn.
  18. ↑ Xinhua News Agency. "New nat'l legislature sees more diversity". Npc.gov.cn. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
  19. ↑ "National People's Congress Organizational System". China Internet Information Center. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
  20. 1 2 "Presidium elected, agenda set for China's landmark parliamentary session". Xinhua News Agency. 4 March 2013.
  21. 1 2 林 (Lin), 峰 (Feng) (2011). 郑 (Cheng), 宇硕(Joseph Y. S.), ed. Whither China's Democracy: Democratization in China Since the Tiananmen Incident. City University of Hong Kong Press. pp. 65–99. ISBN 978-962-937-181-4. At pp. 68–69.
  22. ↑ "Cixi cheap publicity drew praise nor criticize the Voice of Love", Sina News, April 27, 2009. (machine translated from Chinese into English)

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Coordinates: 39°54′12″N 116°23′15″E / 39.90333°N 116.38750°E / 39.90333; 116.38750

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