1) We took steps to strengthen the work and development of people's congresses at the county and township levels.

As the community-level bodies of state power in China and an important foundation of the local political power, people's congresses at the county and township levels assume a fundamental position in the modernization of our country's governance system and capacity for governance. In June 2015, the CPC Central Committee forwarded the guidelines of the Leading Party Members' Group of the NPC Standing Committee on strengthening the work and development of people's congresses at the county and township levels. This represented a major measure taken by the Party Central Committee under new conditions to strengthen the work of people's congresses, especially those at the county and township levels, and promote socialist democracy and rule of law. In response to the guidelines, the Standing Committee promptly revised the Organic Law of the Local People's Congresses and Local People's Governments, the Electoral Law for the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses, and the Law on Deputies to the National People's Congress and Deputies to Local People's Congresses, with the focus on revising and improving provisions concerning organizational and working systems, the election of deputies, and the work of deputies in people's congresses at the county and township levels, thereby providing a legal basis and guarantee for strengthening the work and development of people's congresses at the two levels. In September 2015, the General Office of the Standing Committee held a conference on strengthening the work and development of people's congresses at the county and township levels, urging local people's congresses at all levels to study and implement the guidelines of the Party Central Committee as well as the revised legal provisions. Local people's congresses, in view of their own circumstances, took prompt measures to improve the relevant regulations and working rules and ensure implementation of all tasks and requirements.

2) We drew on the revised Legislation Law to improve local legislative work.

The newly revised Legislation Law accords local legislative powers to all cities which have subsidiary districts, and thus sets out new requirements on strengthening legislative work and improving the quality of legislation. This represented an important measure to improve the legislative system and the work of local people's congresses. In order to ensure full implementation of the revised Legislation Law, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee held a national symposium on local legislation with the participation of leading members from the people's congresses of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government as well as of more than 80 cities which have been granted local legislative powers. The participants engaged in focused discussions and exchanged views with regard to performing the dominant role of people's congresses in legislative work and steadily advancing the work of granting local legislative powers to cities having subsidiary districts, thus further clarifying the direction of future initiatives.

By strengthening fact-finding investigations and reviewing past experience, we also provided active assistance to the standing committees of people's congresses of provinces and autonomous regions, helping them to establish processes and timetables for the cities, to which they have granted local legislative powers, to follow in formulating local legislation. We held three training sessions on the revised Legislation Law for 873 legislators from provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government as well as 178 autonomous prefectures and cities divided into districts, thereby supporting the efforts of local people's congresses to strengthen their legislative workforce and improve their legislative competence.

3) We conducted research in preparation for the election of new people's congresses at the county and township levels.

Beginning in 2016, elections will be held for new people's congresses at the county and township levels across the country, during which more than 900 million voters are expected to directly elect over 2.5 million deputies. This will be a major political event in China, and an important step in the development of socialist democracy. Bearing this in mind, we established a research task force which, based on a review of past experience and opinions from a wide range of sources and an analysis of new developments and problems in elections, has prepared a guiding document for the elections.

4) We strengthened ties with local people's congresses.

We continued to invite leading members of the standing committees of provincial-level people's congresses to observe meetings of the Standing Committee; held briefings at regular intervals to keep local people's congresses updated on the work of the Standing Committee; and improved mechanisms through which we solicit legislative opinions from local people's congresses.

When carrying out inspections of compliance with laws, the Standing Committee requested the assistance of the people's congresses of the relevant provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government. The special committees of the NPC and working bodies of the Standing Committee strengthened their contact and coordination with the relevant bodies of local people's congresses through symposiums, briefings, and training sessions that served to facilitate the sharing of experience and discussion of particular issues. The Standing Committee actively promoted the application of information technology in local people's congresses. Over the past three years, we have provided training for the chairperson or vice chairpersons of the standing committees of more than 2,850 county-level people's congresses across the country. Local people's congresses provided full support for the work of the Standing Committee, doing a great deal to assist us in inspecting compliance with laws, conducting research on special issues, ensuring services for deputies, and carrying out foreign relations work.

1) We strengthened our ties with NPC deputies.

We implemented the system whereby members of the Chairperson's Council and members of the Standing Committee maintain direct contact with NPC deputies, and heard deputies' comments and suggestions on the work of the Standing Committee in a variety of ways. We invited more deputies to observe meetings of the Standing Committee and increased their participation in the Standing Committee's legislation, oversight, and research activities. Last year, more than 370 deputies observed meetings of the Standing Committee, over 300 participated in the Standing Committee's inspections of compliance with laws, and more than 600 took part in fact-finding investigations organized by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

2) We carefully examined deputies' proposals and handled their suggestions.

The relevant special committees completed their examination of all 521 proposals referred to them by the Presidium of the Third Session of the 12th NPC last year. Pursuant to this, the Standing Committee has, after deliberations, adopted 17 legislative items and launched five law compliance inspection tasks cited in 91 of the proposals; is currently deliberating eight legislative items cited in 22 proposals; and has included 49 legislative items discussed in 159 proposals into the legislative plan. During the examination process, the special committees made earnest efforts to study and adopt the opinions of deputies and promptly prepared reports on the outcome of their examination.

3) We supported and ensured deputies' law-based performance of their duties.

We organized for more than 1,700 deputies to participate in dedicated research activities. This not only prepared them for attending this session of the NPC and performing their duties, but also helped them to enter communities, interact with the general public, and gain a better understanding of social conditions and popular feelings. We successfully organized four study sessions and seminars on special topics for deputies, as well as one study session for ethnic minority deputies. At the sessions, the principal leaders of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Supervision, and the Ministry of Finance delivered specialized reports, following which more than 1,100 attending deputies discussed and exchanged views on the relevant topics.

1) We consolidated and expanded the NPC's mechanism-based exchanges with foreign parliaments.

The NPC, the Russian Federation Council, and the State Duma of Russia jointly established the new China-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. The committee held its first meeting, which was co-chaired by the leaders of the legislative bodies of the two countries. This initiative has helped to maintain a high level of parliamentary cooperation between China and Russia. We arranged for a high-level delegation of the United States House of Representatives to visit China, which included the first ever visit to Tibet. We held two meetings with the European Parliament under the mechanism of regular exchanges and resumed our parliamentary exchanges with Japan, which had been suspended for years. We officially implemented the mechanism of regular exchanges with the State Great Hural of Mongolia and established mechanisms for political dialogue with Peruvian and Argentine congresses. We strengthened diplomacy with the parliaments of other major countries of the world in a bid to enhance mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation.

2) We steadily promoted multilateral diplomatic activities among parliaments.

The year 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Global War against Fascism and the founding of the United Nations. As Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC, I led a delegation to the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. At the conference, I proposed that peace and development be made a theme of the meeting and that eradicating poverty and promoting economic and social development be made core objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. I also attended the first BRICS Parliamentary Forum in Russia, which further enriched cooperation among BRICS countries and enhanced their confidence and cohesion.

We actively participated in the activities of multilateral organizations such as the Inter Parliamentary Union, the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum, and the Asian Parliamentary Assembly. During these activities, we projected China's voice and worked to expand the international influence of developing countries and safeguard their common interests.

3) We conducted friendly international exchanges at all levels.

We actively engaged in high-level exchanges with the parliaments of Russia, the Republic of Korea, India, France, and Hungary and received 49 parliamentary or other delegations from countries including Pakistan, Italy, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. We gave play to the role of the NPC's Foreign Affairs Committee as a window for international exchanges, and encouraged the relevant special committees and working committees to engage in exchanges with their counterparts in foreign parliaments. With a view to deepening pragmatic cooperation and promoting the alignment of the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative (the Belt and Road Initiative) with the development strategies of the relevant countries, we engaged in a continued effort to foster policy and legal environments that are more conducive to cooperation by stepping up policy coordination and providing stronger legal guarantees. We also encouraged mutual learning, drawing on the experience of other countries with reference to our key legislative items.