National People's Congress
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- A similar term is "National Congress", which is a less common translation of People's Political Consultative Conference.
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The National People's Congress (Simplified Chinese: 全国人民代表大会; Traditional Chinese: 全國人民代表大會; pinyin: Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì; literally "Pan-National Congress of the People's Representatives"), abbreviated NPC (Chinese: 人大; pinyin: Réndà), is the highest state body in the People's Republic of China. Although the membership of the NPC is still largely determined by the Communist Party of China, since the early 1990s it has moved away from its previous role as a symbolic but powerless rubber-stamp legislature, and has become a forum for mediating policy differences between different parts of the Party and the government. For the NPC to defeat a proposal put before them is a rare, but not non-existent event.
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[edit] Election
Delegates are elected by the provincial people's congresses for a term of five years. The provincial people's congresses are in turn elected by lower level congresses, and so on down through a series of layers to the lowest people's congresses which are popularly elected. This process of layered indirect election has the consequence that the Communist Party of China maintains effective control over the process of delegate selection although there is a considerable amount of decentralization in which the delegate selection process involves quite a bit of local Communist politics. Although delegates to the lowest level of the People's Congresses can elected without party approval, the tiered system of indirect elections makes it practically impossible for a person to become a member of the higher levels of the People's Congresses without Party approval. This is further reinforced by the limit imposed on the ratio of the numbers of seats and candidates: at the national level, there are 110 candidates allowed to compete for every 100 seats, while at the provincial level, there are 120 candidates allowed to compete for every 100 seats, at the prefecture level, there are 130 candidates allowed to compete for every 100 seats, at the county level, there are 140 candidates allowed to compete for every 100 seats, and at the township level, there are 150 candidates allowed to compete for every 100 seats. Only at the lowest level, the village level, there is no limit on the ratio of the number of candidates and seats (though in the prudent political reform in China, the limit imposed at the township level are increasingly been abolished). The fact that most of the powers of the NPC are normally exercised through its Standing Committee provides a third control over the membership by the Party.
Although Party approval is needed for membership in the NPC, approximately a third of the seats are informally reserved for non-party members. This include technical experts and members of the smaller allied parties. Although these members do provide technical expertise and a somewhat greater diversity of views, they do not function as a political opposition.
[edit] Delegations from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan
Among the delegations are those from the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau and from Taiwan. The delegations 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.[1] 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.
The Taiwan delegation is intended to be symbolic of the PRC's claim over the island, but does not include anyone currently residing in Taiwan, but rather includes only people living on the mainland with a connection to Taiwan, and these delegates are increasingly being replaced by Taiwanese merchants reside in mainland and overseas Taiwanese who returned to mainland. It is also elected via an electoral college without input from people from the island, and it does not include anyone with any political following there.
[edit] PLA and Overseas Chinese delegations
In addition to these delegations, there are delegations from the People's Liberation Army, who under Chinese legal theory are not considered residents of any region, and a delegation which represents returned overseas Chinese.
[edit] Procedure
The NPC consists of about 3,000 delegates and 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.
The sessions have become media events because it is at the plenary sessions that the Chinese leadership produces work reports. 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.
Between these sessions, power is exercised by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress which contains about 150 members. 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 reeducation through labor.
Although it has been frequently stated that the NPC has never overturned a resolution proposed by the Chinese Communist Party, this is incorrect. 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. With respect to proposals by the State Council of the People's Republic of China, the NPC has rejected a bill on mritime sfety, and it is no longer uncommon for the State Council to amend or withdraw a bill on account of NPC opposition. That said, overturning such proposals is still extremely rare.
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, 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.
In addition, although direct and explicit challenges to the rule of the Communist Party of China are not tolerated, 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.
The NPC has a collection of functions and powers, including electing the President of the People's Republic of China and approving the work reports of top officials. 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 occasionally occurs.
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.
[edit] List of Chairmen of the Standing Committee
- Liu Shaoqi (1954-1959)
- From July 6, 1976 to March 5, 1978 the position remained vacant. The duties of the office were collectively executed by the twenty vice-chairmen:
- Wu De (b. 1914 - d. 1995), Song Qingling (f) (b. 1893 - d. 1981), Liu Bocheng (b. 1892 - d. 1986), Wei Guoqing (b. 1913 - d. 1989), Seypidin (b. 1915 - d. 2003), Chen Yun (b. 1905 - d. 1995), Tan Zhenlin (b. 1902 - d. 1983), Li Jingquan (b. 1909 - d. 1989), Ulanhu (b. 1904 - d. 1988), Guo Moruo (b. 1892 - d. 1978), Xu Xiangqian (b. 1901 - d. 1990), Nie Rongzhen (b. 1899 - d. 1992), Zhang Dingcheng (b. 1898 - d. 1981), Cai Chang (f) (b. 1900 - d. 1990), Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (b. 1910), Zhou Jianren (b. 1888 - d. 1984), Xu Deheng, Hu Juewen, Li Suwen (f), Yao Lianwei, and, from 2 Dec 1976, Deng Yingchao (f) (b. 1904 - d. 1992).
- Ye Jianying (5 March 1978 - 18 June 1983)
- Peng Zhen (1983-1988)
- Wan Li (1988-1993)
- Qiao Shi (1993-1998)
- Li Peng (1998-2003)
- Wu Bangguo (since 2003)
