China will promote democracy in its legislative process by encouraging more public input, the country's top lawmaker said yesterday in his annual report to the National People's Congress.
"We will continue to publicize draft laws to collect suggestions and hold more public hearings on bills," said Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC's Standing Committee.
Wu's one-hour speech yesterday morning was the first legislative report to be telecast live in the history of the NPC.
"The live telecast was aimed at meeting public demand for more information about NPC lawmaking and supervision," said an official at the NPC press center. "It's also part of China's ceaseless efforts to enhance transparency of NPC's work and promote political democracy."
Wu's promise comes at a time when legal experts are engulfed in a battle over the country's first property law, which is still in the making.
The draft law, which is designed to enhance the protection of private property, was originally scheduled for approval during the present annual session of the NPC, which ends next Tuesday. But it was scrapped from the agenda months ago.
Some scholars worry that the draft may fail to properly protect state-owned assets.
"This interruption should not be seen as a waste of time but a cost we have to bear for democratic procedures," said Wang Liming, an NPC deputy and member of the legislature's Law Committee.
The draft property law was made public last year and circulated for comments, attracting more than 11,500 letters so far.
Reviewing the legislative work of the past year, Wu said lawmakers discussed 25 bills and adopted 18 of them. Among the most important was a bill abolishing the agricultural tax.
"The law put an end to the so-called 'imperial tax' in place for more than 2,000 years in China," Wu said.
Another high-profile legislative event last year was the first public hearing in the history of the NPC Standing Committee on the personal income tax. The threshold for the tax was lifted from 800 yuan (US$99) to 1,600 yuan a month.
Wu also said the NPC Standing Committee has saved people's lives through law enforcement inspections that led to the closures of many deadly mines and polluting industrial plants.
The committee turned up a series of problems in coal mine safety area by hosting more than 60 forums and organizing lawmakers to conduct field studies at more than 70 enterprises and 30 coal mines, he said.

(Xinhua)