CHINA IS MOVING FAST. Three major new laws were reviewed simultaneously for the first time this year.
Normally, only one or two draft laws make it to the “Two Sessions”.
But this year, three important pieces of legislation were reviewed at the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing, covering development, environment and minorities.
The vast majority of national draft laws are directly reviewed and passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which meets every two months. Only major draft laws, one or two a year, undergo three readings by the NPC Standing Committee, and then get submitted to the NPC for deliberation. Legislative acts which get to that level tend to be laws concerned with major, fundamental reforms.
WHOLE-PROCESS DEMOCRACY
By heading to the NPC, these bills get input from a body of nearly 3,000 delegates, and absorb the opinions of people from all walks of life, ethnic groups, regions, and social strata, representing the consensus of the highest levels of government and the broadest segments of society.
This reflects the practice of whole-process people’s democracy.
The three laws:
i) The Ecological and Environmental Code balances ecological security and development.
This is the country’s second law named a “code,” systematically integrating laws from different periods, and resolving deep-seated contradictions between development and protection.
ii) The National Development Planning Law elevates the policies of the Five-Year Plan to law, and thus ensures the efficient implementation of strategies across the country.
The law will help China respond to extreme external tensions and ensures sufficient internal resources, such as finance, talent, and land, as well as supply chain security.
iii) The Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress promotes integration and long-term stability for the various ethnic groups that make up Chinese society.
It enhances ethnic unity, prevents external infiltration, and safeguards national security and social stability.
VOLATILE WORLD
Faced with an extremely volatile international situation and complex and uncontrollable internal challenges, the maintenance of overall national stability is crucial for development.
In our country’s governmental wisdom, stability is the prerequisite and foundation for development and reform—and it requires a high degree of coordination and strategic planning.
HONG KONG’S ROLE
For the first time, the nation has incorporated Hong Kong’s alignment with national development plans into the legal provisions.
In implementing its first five-year plan, Hong Kong should deeply align with the “15th Five-Year Plan,” leveraging our strengths to serve the nation’s needs, becoming a promoter of national development strategies, and better playing the roles of “super-connector” and “super-value-added agent.”
This will ensure that Hong Kong’s policies are synchronized with national development, jointly promoting national modernization and building a better future for all of us.
Professor Herman Hu Shao-ming is a Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress of China.