About 3,000 members of China's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), have arrived in Beijing from around the country for an annual session beginning on Saturday. They are expected to hammer out a law aiming to prevent Taiwan from being separated from the motherland.
Also on the agenda of the session will be Jiang Zemin's resignation from the post of chairman of the State Central Military Commission and the expected succession of Hu Jintao. Hu took the post of chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) last September.
The NPC deputies to the session are expected to air their opinions on a wide-range of issues when they review the government work report to be delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao on the opening day of the session.
Coal mine safety, construction of a harmonious society, the fight against corruption, farmers' income, food safety, growing disparity in income, unemployment, environmental protection, stocks market and education, as well as the anti-secession law, are the most concerned topics during the 10-day meeting, according to an on-line investigation by Xinhuanet.com, China's largest news website.
TAIWAN ISSUE
China's top legislator Wu Bangguo promised at a meeting at the end of last year that the NPC would do its best to fully reflect the common will of all Chinese people in making the anti-secession law.
Wu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said that it was " absolutely necessary" to formulate the anti-secession law to fight and curb the secessionists in Taiwan, promote the peaceful reunification of the motherland, maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and maintain the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation.
China's Constitution stipulates that Taiwan is an indispensable part of China and realizing the reunification of the motherland is the "sacred duty" of all Chinese people, including the people in Taiwan.
"No sovereign state will allow actions of secession, and every sovereign state has the right to take necessary means to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Wu.
The Taiwan issue is China's internal issue left over from a civil war more than half a century ago. China has been working hard to promote a peaceful reunification. However, in recent years, the Taiwan authorities have accelerated the secessionist activities for "Taiwan Independence," especially through the so- called "constitutional reform."
These secessionist activities have created the largest obstacle to the development of cross-Straits relations and the peaceful reunification, and "constituted the gravest threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits," Wu said.
SEVEN CHALLENGES
Although China has witnessed rapid economic growth over the years, it faces seven major challenges that the government should pay high attention to, according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top government think tank.
Li Peilin, a sociologist with the academy, told the Outlook Weekly that farmers' loss of land, growing disparity in incomes, unemployment, poverty, corruption, pollution and dissatisfaction of the lower-income group against society have become the seven major challenges.
Noticing of those challenges, Chinese leaders have repeatedly stressed the concept of building a "harmonious socialist society."
The harmonious socialist society is defined as one that features the socialist democracy, rule of law, equity, justice, sincerity, amity, vitality, stability and order, as well as harmonious co-existence between man and nature, according Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.
Building a harmonious society will be one of the key topics for this year's parliament session, according to Xiao Zhuoji, a noted economist with Beijing University.
"(Building a harmonious socialist society) will have a bearing on China's future development in terms of politics, economy, social affairs and culture. It will be a strategic task," said Xiao, who is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a top advisory body that will begin its annual session Thursday afternoon.
On Feb. 22, Hu Jintao instructed top CPC officials to "enhance their capability of looking into major social issues in building a harmonious society" at a seminar of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on social issues.
Speeches calling on "building a harmonious society" made by state leaders have repeatedly made top newspaper and TV news in China these days.
GEAR-UP
Beijing, the Chinese capital that hosts almost all high- profile political events, has geared up for the upcoming NPC and CPPCC annual sessions. Traffic flows have been put under control in the city, where traffic police have worked out faster routes for NPC deputies and CPPCC members to shuttle between hotels and the Great Hall of the People, the venue of all NPC and CPPCC plenary meetings.
Police cars equipped with global positioning systems will lead the motorcades to monitor real-time traffic flows and minimize inconvenience for ordinary residents, a spokesman with the municipal traffic bureau said Tuesday.
The security work has also been tightened. Last week, Beijing announced a ban on all air sports involving paragliders, model airplanes and hot-air balloons between March 1 and 16 to guard against possible terror attacks in the political fortnight.
Meanwhile, at least 650,000 volunteers wearing red armbands will join the police to patrol lanes, roads and streets throughout Beijing to help ensure security during the meeting period.