Guo Weimin, spokesman for the fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC, briefs the media via video link about the session at a news conference in Beijing on March 3. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

The annual sessions of China’s national legislature and top political advisory body open a unique window for the world to observe the vitality of a socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics amid false accusations and lies concocted by some anti-China politicians in some Western countries.

This year’s “two sessions” began with the opening of the fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on March 4, 

to be followed by fourth annual session of the 13th National People’s Congress on March 5.

Thousands of national lawmakers and political advisors gathered to deliberate on every aspect of China’s development and the people’s well-being, review proposals of state leaders and agencies and make due decisions on guiding policies and measures for the year ahead.

Guo Weimin, spokesman for the CPPCC session, told a news conference in Beijing that multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China is the basic system of China, and it has unique strengths and distinctive features.

It can truly represent the fundamental interests of the people, unite all political parties and people without party affiliation to work for a common goal and pool opinions and suggestions to make decision-making more scientific and democratic, he said.

Unlike legislators in the West who make their careers in politics, deputies to the NPC, China’s top legislature, are from all walks of life and work part-time. Of the nearly 3,000 national lawmakers, more than 15 percent are grassroots workers and farmers.

The CPPCC, part of the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation led by the CPC, is an important contributor to democratic decision-making and problem-solving. Under the system, the CPC works together with non-Communist parties rather than playing party politics that tosses aside the needs of the people.

Chinese democracy representing the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people ensures that grassroots voices are heard and concerns related to the well-being of the people are fully addressed.

Over the year, the CPPCC National Committee held 23 consultative meetings, organized 80 inspection and survey tours, provided more than 7,500 items of information to related departments and submitted about 5,900 proposals raised by its members, Guo said.

By late January, all 9,180 suggestions submitted by NPC deputies to last year’s annual NPC session to address existent problems of various regions and fields of the vast nation had been handled, with feedback provided. Various departments of the State Council, or China’s Cabinet, adopted approximately 3,700 pieces of advice from NPC deputies and political advisors and subsequently introduced some 1,500 related policy measures.

“The proposals by national political advisers were well dealt with last year, with innovative methods and improved quality, overcoming the impact of the pandemic,” Guo said.

Socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics is deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture, created in revolutionary and constructive periods, and gradually improved in times of reform. It is meant to address problems that the people want to solve, rather than an ornament to be used for decoration, said a Xinhua report.

“It is time to re-understand the essence of Chinese democracy and its significance to the progress of human society,” it said.

The assemblies offer journalists from around the world opportunities to put questions to the Chinese premier and ministers, thus drawing more attention from world audiences.

The biggest political event of China offers a chance to gaze at the Chinese model at a time when the world needs to work more closely than ever to tackle common challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent years, some Western politicians have viciously attacked China on some issues, such as tracing the source of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as issues related to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the Hong Kong special administrative region.

What they did has negatively affected views of China among the public in the West, Guo said.

However, opinion polls by some independent international agencies have shown that people from a great many countries and regions favor China. “With an increasing number of foreigners visiting China and our intensified international exchanges and cooperation, I believe more and more people will like China better, and favorable views by the international community toward China will keep rising,” he said.

Guo said China is a peace-loving country and has been working to make friends and build good relationships with other countries.

Responding to a question about some foreign politicians’ attempts to promote a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Guo said such moves are futile and doomed to fail.

He said that actions by certain foreign politicians to politicize sports and disrupt the Games are against the spirit of the Olympic charter.

Customarily, the CPPCC National Committee starts its annual meeting on March 3, and the NPC session on March 5, with each lasting for about 10 days. The sessions were postponed last year from March to May as more focused efforts were needed to fight COVID-19 at the beginning of the year.

Guo said last year’s sessions were held in the form of online and offline meetings and had a shorter duration, fewer staff members and more streamlined documents. “It was a great success and was praised by all sectors of society.”

This year the sessions will last for about a week. Further improvements will be made to optimize the sessions and to enhance their efficiency and quality, in order to give full play to the role of plenary sessions as the highest form of political consultation, Guo said.

Xu Lyuping, a CPPCC member and former deputy head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, said the two sessions are especially significant this year, as 2021 marks the start of the country’s new five-year plan and the centenary of the CPC, the world’s largest ruling political party.

This year the participants are expected to discuss the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035. Their approval tops the agenda for the NPC session.

The two sessions will help pool the wisdom and strength from people nationwide to get China’s new journey toward becoming a modern socialist country off to a good start, Xu said.

She added that the event will also be a good opportunity for the world to comprehensively understand how China will implement its new development philosophy and build the “dual circulation” paradigm, where domestic and foreign markets boost each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.

Huang Ping, a CPPCC member and former director of the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China’s decision to pursue high-quality, innovation-driven growth and the new development paradigm of “dual circulation” will contribute greater certainty to a volatile world.

The nation’s strategic achievements in controlling the pandemic had boosted the confidence of other countries fighting the virus, he said.

Analysts said it is hoped that specific plans will be announced at the two sessions for strengthening national strategic technologies to resolve major difficulties constraining development and security.

Dong Zhiyong, dean of Peking University’s School of Economics, said China should step up the fostering of strategic emerging industries and development of new technologies to make them the new engines to drive the economy and ensure the stability of industrial and supply chains.

Yan Zhi, an NPC deputy from Hubei province, said he wants to see more policy announcements at the two sessions to support the development of private companies.

Experts said that due to the pandemic, it might be difficult for the government to set a specific GDP growth target this year. Instead, it is likely to place greater emphasis on high-quality expansion.

Mo Jingxi and Cui Jia contributed to this story.