An online news center has been opened for the first time for the annual sessions of China's legislature and national advisory body at the website of the National People's Congress (NPC).

The Fourth Session of the Tenth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opened on Friday afternoon, while the Fourth Session of the Tenth NPC begins on March 5.

TV media will be allowed to do more live broadcasts on the plenary sessions of the NPC this year. More press conferences will be arranged and more meetings of the NPC delegations will be opened to journalists.

"It's obvious that we have more channels to get information about the sessions this year, especially from the online news center," said a reporter with Bloomberg News Bureau.

"We can get lots of important information from the online news center, which is every convenient to us," he said.

"More live TV broadcasts of the plenary sessions of the NPC and more meetings of the NPC delegations being opened to media will give us more chances to see the real situation of Chinese lawmakers participating in the deliberation and administration of state affairs," said a reporter with the Singapore's Straits Times newspaper.

Seven press conferences will be held during this year's NPC session. Besides the news conferences for the session spokesman, China's foreign minister and premier, there will also be press conferences for the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC), the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Agriculture.

In addition, there will be a joint press conference for the SDRC, the Ministry of Land Resources and the State Environmental Protection Administration, according to an official from the general office of the NPC Standing Committee.

In previous years, the information on the proposals of the NPC delegates would not be released until the deadline of submission. However, the number and focuses of the proposals will be made public almost immediately this year, said the official.

Fu Yonglin, an NPC deputy and professor at the Southwest College of Foreign Languages, said the NPC and CPPCC sessions have become more transparent and open to the public, a sign of progress in Chinese legislation.

Public opinion was solicited regarding the draft of the property law in 2005. More than 11,500 pieces of advice on the law have been received by the NPC Standing Committee, which has held discussions on it four times.

Because of the hot debate, the draft of the property law was not passed by the NPC Standing Committee in 2005 as scheduled, and more discussions on it will continue this year.

"Property law is of great importance to China's market economy and legal system. The debates on it will help perfect the law. It is the certain trend of the progress of democracy," said Fu.

Public opinion and debate also affected the Chinese legislature's decision to raise the cutoff point of the monthly personal income tax from the 800 yuan to 1,600 yuan (US$99-198) in 2005.

"The information transparency on NPC sessions will help improve public participation in legislation. We have more expectations of the annual sessions of the NPC and CPPCC and the development of democracy," Fu added.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2006)