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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 Straits as well as cross-Straits 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 Straits, boosts the three direct cross-Straits links
of trade, mail and air and shipping services, actively promotes consultations
and negotiations on equal footing across the Straits 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 Straits. 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. |
