Sharing Concerns

During the Third Session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)from March 3 to 13, members put forward 5,430 motions,offering suggestions on the country’s major economic and social issues.

Proposal summaries follow:

Higher Incomes for Low-income Groups

(The Central Committee of China National Democratic Construction Association)

The proposal suggested a steady increase in farmers’ incomes. It said that the government should set minimum purchasing prices for agricultural products and ensure the incomes of grain-growing farmers were not lower than those of people in non-agricultural sectors. In the meantime,the government should also accelerate the urbanization process, expand employment channels for rural workers and improve their employability.

The proposal called for a mechanism to regularly increase the salaries of enterprises’staff and workers. As to extraordinarily high income levels in monopolized industries, the proposal said that effective measures should be taken to oversee income distribution in those industries and introduce competition to break those monopolies.

A Joint Committee on“The World Expo and Taiwan”

(The Central Committee of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League(TSL))

The TSL proposed a cross-Straits joint working committee on “the World Expo and Taiwan” and suggested allowing the Straits Exchange Foundation to set up a“World Expo Taiwan Compatriot Service Station” in Shanghai, to better engage Taiwanese compatriots in the Shanghai World Expo.

The proposal suggested inviting wellknown people from all walks of life in Taiwan to visit the Expo and to take part in various cross-Straits activities such as forums and seminars. It suggested various facilities to serve Taiwanese compatriots during the World Expo, such as setting up a currency exchange station, opening direct fl ights between Shanghai and Taipei, using both simplified and traditional Chinese in Expo venues and tourism information; and recruiting Taiwanese working or studying in Shanghai as Expo volunteers.

Officials Accountable for Information Transparency

(The Central Committee of the Jiu San Society)

The proposal called for more detailed rules regarding government information disclosure. Government’s administrative expenditure should be transparent, particularly spending on business car use, meals, trips and meetings. Government information should be disclosed appropriately and effectively so it was understandable to the public, the proposal said.

The proposal suggested quantifiable criteria measuring the openness of public information should be used to evaluate the performance of government officials.Administrative, civil or criminal punishments should be imposed on actions such as withholding information, delaying or obstructing information disclosure or disclosing false information. Government information disclosure should be overseen by the National People’s Congress, the public and the media. A citizen should be able to sue the government and request compensation if the government failed to release required information. A judicial assistance system on government information disclosure should be set up, the proposal said.

Handwriting Lessons in Schools

(The Central Committee of Chinese Peasants’ and the Workers’ Democratic Party)

The proposal said schools should offer handwriting lessons and set strict requirements on class hours for the lessons.Students’ homework must be handwritten,and not typed on a computer. Their handwriting should be evaluated. Those who did not amass enough hours or reach a required level should not be able to graduate.Students’ handwriting levels should also be used to evaluate the educative quality of teachers and schools.

Stronger Support for University Graduates

(Yue Changhai, Vice President of Toshiba Medical Systems (China) Co. Ltd.)

The proposal suggested boosting government support for university graduates in starting their own businesses. The government should facilitate business registrations;provide fi nancial support, tax incentives and consulting services; and deliver relevant training to graduates.

The government should enact policies and take relevant measures, including preferential tax treatment, to reward employers recruiting a certain number of university graduates.

(Left)TALKING OVER PROPOSALS:CPPCC member and famous film director Zhang Yimou (center)discusses proposals with other members on March 5

JOINT EFFORT:Zhang Haidi (right), a CPPCC member and Chairwoman of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation,talks to other members about making a joint proposal on March 6

Cracking Down on Rights Infringement on the Internet

(Liu Hongyu, Senior Associate,Jincheng Tongda & Neal)

The proposal suggested enacting an Internet security law. China has more than 30 laws and regulations on Internet security,yet more than 20 of those were administrative regulations. Therefore, a systematic and practical law to tackle Internet crimes was necessary. It was suggested computer expertise be boosted and close cooperation with foreign governmental organizations be boosted.

A National “Health” Policy for the Young

(Yang Hua, President of Beijing Sport University)

The government should make it a national policy to improve the health of China’s children and youth. In recent years, their health has been deteriorating; if measures are not taken soon to arrest the trend, the children will become a new generation of “sick men of Asia.” The government should increase expenditures on physical education and there should be mandatory monitoring of the children’s physical exercises.

Warning on Poorly-Preserved Intangible Heritage

(Feng Jicai, Chairman of the China Society for the Study of Folk Literature and Art)

A warning and removal system for intangible cultural heritage inscribed in the lists of the national and local governments should be set up. Relevant government departments should establish expert groups to supervise and monitor the inscribed heritage. A warning should be issued for poorly preserved or overly exploited heritage. Those seriously damaged, changed in nature or no longer transmitted should be removed from the list.

Invigorating Silver Age Industry

(He Wei, a member of the 11th CPPCC National Committee)

Private investment in silver age industry should be encouraged. With more enterprises competing, most of the needs of seniors could be met via the market.

The old-age insurance system should be improved, to make sure that seniors, especially rural seniors, receive adequate fi nancial support—which would ease seniors’ worries and improve their purchasing power.

Enterprises making products for seniors should carry out careful research; obtain a clear idea of the size and structure of the senior population, as well as seniors’ income levels, special needs and consumption psychology and patterns. With improved foresight, they could better tailor products to seniors’ needs.

The proposal also suggested boosting services to seniors, especially in the care area.

Less Bureaucracy, Less Corruption in Universities

(The Central Committee of the Jiu San Society)

University teachers and their academic research should be respected, and the administrative units of a university should provide service to academic units. The administrative rank of universities should be removed, and the way university presidents are selected should be changed. University leaders should not only be accountable to supervisory government departments, but also to teachers and students. Universities should be managed democratically; teachers’ performance evaluation system should be reformed so corruption can be wiped out and teachers can fully devote themselves to teaching and research.

Regulations on faculty and staff representative meetings and academic committees should be enacted, to give more power to faculty and staff representatives and the academic committee. Faculty and staff representative meetings should be held regularly and important decisions related to schools must be approved at meetings before being put into practice.

Universities should release basic information and relevant reports, and accept the supervision of teachers, students and society.

Waste Disposal in Beijing

(Beijing Committee, China National Democratic Construction Association)

The proposal focused on waste sorting,collection and scientific treatment. It said burning or burying solid waste was an ineffi cient way to treat waste, while the scienti fi c way was to sort waste, and send recyclable items to factories to be reused, non-recyclable organic items to treatment facilities to produce methane or fertilizers, and non-recyclable inorganic items to trash incinerators.The ultimate goal of waste disposal was to reuse as much waste as possible. ■