Since the Fourth Session of the 12th NPC, the Standing Committee has enacted 8 laws, revised 27 laws, passed 7 decisions or resolutions on legal issues, issued 1 legal interpretation, and resolved to present the draft of 1 law and 3 draft decisions on legal issues to this session of the NPC for deliberation. Our legislative work has continued to be characterized by the great number, importance, and pace of activities, and we have further improved the quality of the NPC's legislative work.

We inspected compliance with 6 laws; heard and deliberated 20 work reports from the State Council, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate; passed 2 resolutions; and conducted 3 special inquiries and 5 research projects. Through these activities, we have achieved continuous progress in the NPC's oversight work, making it more targeted and effective.

We deliberated and approved 8 reports from the NPC's special committees regarding their examination of deputies' proposals, as well as 7 reports from the Credentials Committee pertaining to its review of certain deputies' qualifications. We ratified 3 treaties and agreements concluded between China and foreign countries as well as China's accession to 4 international conventions, and made decisions on or gave approval to the appointment or removal of a number of officials of state bodies. New advances and achievements have been made in every area of the NPC's work.

1) Major progress was made in developing the system of national security laws.

National security is the foundation of a stable country. Putting into effect the integrative national security concept and giving central consideration to China's conditions and realities, we maintained our political resolve, acted when the time was right for legislation, and worked faster to develop the system of laws related to national security. Following the enactment of the Counter-Espionage Law in 2014 and the National Security Law and the Anti-Terrorism Law in 2015, last year we deliberated and passed the Law on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of China, the Cybersecurity Law, and the Law on National Defense Transportation, and deliberated the drafts of an intelligence law and a nuclear safety law.

The Law on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of China brings the administration of activities of overseas NGOs in the mainland of China into line with the rule of law. It will help to protect their legitimate rights and interests and promote exchange and cooperation, while also helping to strengthen China's law-based oversight and regulation and safeguard China's national security and public interests.

The Cybersecurity Law is a fundamental law in the field of cyber security. The law establishes basic regulatory systems for all areas of cyber security that ensure the effective utilization, sound development, law-based regulation, and improved security of cyberspace and establish the right balance between freedom and order, security and development, and national governance and international cooperation.

The Law on National Defense Transportation is the first piece of legislation pertaining to national defense deliberated and adopted by this Standing Committee. The purpose of this law is to facilitate closer military-civilian integration in the field of transportation and improve the capabilities of national defense transportation to serve in times of peace, respond to emergencies, and meet challenges in times of war, thus better serving the country's overall strategy for national security and development.

2) Steady progress was made in developing the General Provisions of Civil Law.

The development of a civil code was an important legislative task proposed at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Party Central Committee, and is a move of enormous importance for fully advancing China's law-based governance and improving the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the NPC worked on developing civil law in 1954, 1962, 1979, and 2001, but for a number of reasons efforts in 1954 and 1962 failed to produce real results. The work in 1979 and 2001, through careful consideration, led to the adoption of an incremental approach, whereby individual civil laws were to be formulated first and the civil code was to be developed later when the conditions were right to do so. To meet the needs of promoting reform and opening up and developing the socialist market economy, China formulated the General Principles of Civil Law, and introduced a series of civil laws such as the Inheritance Law, the Adoption Law, the Guarantee Law, the Contract Law, the Property Law, and the Tort Law. Now the conditions are all in place for compiling a civil code. The Standing Committee has decided to adopt a two-step approach to develop the civil code: first, developing the general part of the civil code, or the General Provisions of Civil Law; and second, following the enactment of the General Provisions of Civil Law, compiling the individual books of the civil code, striving to form a complete civil code by 2020.

3) Legislation concerning cultural, social, environmental, and other issues was strengthened.

Seeing that China's legislative work in the cultural sector was lagging behind, last year we strengthened the system of laws on culture by deliberating and passing two important laws related to this sector. The Law on Guaranteeing Public Cultural Services clarifies the duties and responsibilities of the government in the provision of public cultural services, and establishes basic principles and mechanisms for guaranteeing provision. The Film Industry Promotion Law regulates the scripting, filming, release, and showing of films and provides greater support and security for the film industry. These two laws will play a significant role in safeguarding the people's basic cultural rights and interests, enriching their intellectual and cultural life, and promoting core socialist values.

4) Legislative mechanisms and methods were refined.

First, we published the guidelines on establishing sound systems under which special committees of the NPC and working bodies of the NPC Standing Committee organize the drafting of important laws. Of all the legislative items deliberated by the Standing Committee this past year, the drafting for 10 items was led by relevant special committees of the NPC and working bodies of the Standing Committee.

Second, we improved the mechanisms for soliciting the opinions of deputies on the drafts of laws and invited them to participate in the research, debate, deliberation, and assessment process so as to ensure their comments and suggestions can be effectively heard and adopted. These efforts have enabled deputies to play a bigger role in the NPC's legislative work.

Third, we formulated the Procedures for Collecting and Discussing Legislative Items, making progress in efforts to better standardize and institutionalize legislative work.

Fourth, we improved the system for staying connected with local communities on legislative matters, and on eight occasions organized activities to solicit comments on seven draft laws from the general public and officials at the community level. This ensured that legislative work was carried out in close connection with the people and was better able to reflect public sentiment.

We held a national symposium on local legislation to guide local legislative work, especially the legislative work of cities with subsidiary districts. Of the 273 cities and autonomous prefectures newly granted local legislative powers by the revised Legislation Law, 269 have, with approval from provincial-level people's congresses, already begun to formulate local regulations.

1) We promptly and appropriately dealt with problems related to the case of election bribery in Liaoning Province, working resolutely to uphold the authority and sanctity of the system of people's congresses.

The voting bribery case in Liaoning Province was the first major case of its kind to have occurred at the provincial level since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The perpetrators seriously violated Party discipline, state laws, and the requirements of the intra-Party electoral system and the electoral system of the people's congresses. After the deputies to the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress involved in the case had their qualifications revoked in accordance with relevant laws, those who were members of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress were removed from their positions in accordance with the law. The Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress, having had over half of its members removed, was unable to convene meetings and carry out its duties. In order to promptly and appropriately resolve this unprecedented and exceptional issue, the NPC Standing Committee acted on the basis of the Constitution and relevant legal principles to make creative institutional arrangements. At the provisionally convened 23rd meeting of the NPC Standing Committee on September 13, 2016, we deliberated and approved the report of the Credentials Committee to revoke, in accordance with the law, the qualifications of 45 NPC deputies elected by the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress for bribing voters. At the meeting, we also deliberated and approved a decision stipulating that the 12th Liaoning Provincial People's Congress shall set up a preparatory committee to exercise certain functions and powers on behalf of its Standing Committee and shall take charge of the preparatory work for the convocation of its Seventh Session.

Our handling of the Liaoning case in accordance with the law and Party discipline fully reflects the Party Central Committee's clear stand and strong resolve for advancing China's law-based governance and ensuring strict Party self-governance. No violation of our socialist democracy or rule of law in any form shall be tolerated.

2) We produced the interpretation of Article 104 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in accordance with the law to firmly oppose any attempt at secession of Hong Kong from our country.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inseparable part of the People's Republic of China. To attempt "Hong Kong independence" is to attempt secession, a serious violation of the "one country, two systems" principle, the Constitution of China, and the Basic Law of Hong Kong. The NPC Standing Committee, exercising power entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Basic Law, produced the interpretation of Article 104 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong. The interpretation clearly establishes that, as stipulated by Article 104, to "swear to uphold the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China" is not only the exact phrasing that must be included in the oath prescribed by Article 104, but is also a legal requirement and condition for any person standing for election or taking up any position of public office specified in the Article. The interpretation clarifies the legal procedures that must be adhered to when taking the oath of office and the statutory content that must be included in the oath; it makes clear that anyone who violates this stipulation on oath taking is to be legally disqualified from assuming office and that any person who makes an oath insincerely or breaks their oath will be held legally responsible.

This interpretation fully demonstrates the Chinese central leadership's resolve in upholding the "one country, two systems" principle and its firm stand against any attempt at secession of Hong Kong from the Chinese nation; it embodies the firm will of 1.3 billion Chinese people, including those in the Hong Kong region, to safeguard their country's sovereignty, security, and developmental interests.

3) We issued the decision on carrying out trials for reform of the national supervision system to provide a legal guarantee for this major political structural reform.

As a major policy decision made by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core to improve the political structure, deepening reform of the national supervision system has a direct bearing on the big picture and is of immense and far-reaching significance for improving Party conduct, upholding integrity, and combating corruption and for modernizing China's governance system and capacity for governance. In order to build up experience before advancing this major reform throughout the country, the Party Central Committee has decided to launch trials in several localities. In line with the principle that "all major reforms must have a legal basis," the Chairperson's Council of the NPC Standing Committee produced a proposal in accordance with the law, which was carefully deliberated by the Standing Committee and resulted in the decision to carry out trials for reforming the national supervision system in Beijing and in Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces. The decision stipulates that supervisory committees shall be established in pilot areas to exercise supervisory functions and powers; that a supervisory committee shall be created by the people's congress at the same level, and be responsible to and overseen by the same-level people's congress and its standing committee as well as the supervisory committee at the next level up; and that supervisory committees shall supervise the exercise of public power by all government employees in their regions in accordance with the law and within the scope of their supervisory authority. It also stipulates that the applicability of certain stipulations in the Law on Administrative Supervision, the Criminal Procedure Law, the Organic Law of the Local People's Congresses and Local People's Governments, and other relevant laws shall be provisionally adjusted or suspended in order to ensure law-based, orderly advancement of the pilot reform.