National People's Congress
- A similar term is "National Congress", which is a less common translation of People's Political Consultative Conference.
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-Nation Congress of the People's Representatives"), abbreviated NPC (Chinese: 人大; pinyin: Réndà), is the highest legislative body in the People's Republic of China. Although the membership of the NPC is still largely determined by Communist Party of China, since the early 1990's, 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. However, the NPC still rarely defeats proposals put before them.
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, with a series of layers before until 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 considerable amount of decentralization in which the delegate selection process involves quite a bit of local Communist politics. Although delegates to the lowest level party congresses are occasionally elected without party approval, the tiered system of indirect elections makes it practically impossible for a person to become a member of the NPC without Party approval. The fact that most of the powers of the NPC are normally exercised through its Standing Committee provides another layer by which the Party can control membership.
Although Party approval is need 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.
The NPC consists of about 3,000 delegates and meets for about two weeks each year at the same time as the CPPCC, 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 hold press conferences with foreign reporters, and this is one of the few opportunities Western reporters have of asking unscripted questions to 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 only become a crime 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 Maritime Safety, 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 Law on Real Property which was withdrawn from the 2006 legislative agenda after objections that the law did not do enough to protect state property. However, some proposals will be put to the vote even if there is opposition, if the Politburo deems it necessary.
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 keep 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.
Plenary Sessions
- 2006 NPC
- 2007 NPC
Categories
National legislatures | Politics of the People's Republic of China | Government of the People's Republic of China