(East and West Questions) Short Commentary: Why are China's Two Sessions firmly moving towards openness and transparency?

　　China News Agency, Beijing, March 11th, Question: Why are China's two sessions firmly moving towards openness and transparency?

　　Author Han Yu

　　The Fifth Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress concluded on the 11th.

In recent years, China's Two Sessions have become more open and information more transparent. While ensuring the people's right to know and discuss politics, China's firm voice has been conveyed to the world.

On March 11, the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress held a closing meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Kejia

　　The National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, were held simultaneously in 1959.

The agendas of the meeting were advanced in order, the deputies to the National People's Congress listened to the reports, reviewed and discussed, and the members of the CPPCC made suggestions and showed their strengths. News reports have repeatedly sparked heated debate.

　　The open and transparent information flow mechanism makes it impossible for China's two sessions to be a closed-door club for a few political elites, but a platform for the will of the people of the whole country to gather.

The increasingly comprehensive information opening mechanism, coupled with the increasingly mature political awareness of the people, and the increasingly improved technical conditions, have prompted China's Two Sessions to remain an open and transparent political process despite the isolation of the epidemic.

　　This time, the National People's Congress still "welcomes Chinese and foreign journalists who meet the requirements of the 'two sessions' epidemic prevention and control to participate in interviews at that time", and "continues to uphold the spirit of openness and transparency to provide services for Chinese and foreign reporters to report and report", showing an open attitude as always.

On March 4, the Fifth Session of the 13th National People's Congress held a press conference in the press conference hall of the Great Hall of the People. In order to effectively prevent and control the epidemic and jointly maintain public health and health, the press conference was held in the form of online video.

Pictured is the branch.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Yu

　　Deputies can speak freely, press spokespersons can answer questions, and media interviews are more convenient. In recent years, China's two sessions have opened up a road of information openness: promoting the disclosure of deputies' information. The telephone numbers of the press liaison officers of each delegation, the basic information of the members of the CPPCC National Committee was announced in 2008; the opening of delegation meetings was expanded year by year, and the opening to foreign media was promoted; major meetings were broadcast live on TV and web; Edition; opened the "Online News Center" and the National Two Sessions News Center to provide convenient services for reporters; after the "Minister's Channel" was opened in 2016, the "Representatives Channel" and "Members Channel" were opened in 2018...

　　This year, the National Two Sessions have new measures in information disclosure.

Taking the National People's Congress as an example, the NPC's rules of procedure revised last year added that delegations can set up speakers as needed, and that the Secretariat and delegations can organize interviews, which was implemented for the first time this year.

Data map: The red flag flutters in front of the Great Hall of the People.

　　Why does China promote the information opening of the National Two Sessions?

　　Domestically, it contains the true meaning of the whole process of people's democracy: the CCP always pays attention to the people's nature and mass nature of the power organs, so that democratic supervision runs through political life and does not end after elections and votes.

Information transparency is an important support for democratic supervision. It guarantees the people's right to know in the public domain, has sufficient information on major state affairs in political life, and promotes the healthy operation of the people's congress system and the political consultation system under the watchful eyes of the people. , to avoid following in the footsteps of the West and fall into the trap of Michels' "Iron Law of Oligarchy".

　　To the world, information openness highlights China's image and self-confidence.

At a time when the new crown epidemic is still raging, the geopolitical landscape has changed suddenly, regional conflicts and frictions have intensified, and the globalization process has encountered waves, China, as an important force in the century-old change of the world, responded positively to the concerns of various countries with open information, so that uncertainty and widespread The world of "suspicious chains" sees certainty.

What is even more rare is that China's two sessions are also the "first scene" of "live-streaming" China's democratic practice to the world, providing a bright mirror and a bright window for exchanges and mutual learning of various types of democracy under different civilizations.

(over)