China’s Approach Contributes Wisdom and Strength
——The World Pays Attention to China's NPC Session and CPPCC Session

Liu Qu, People’s Daily

Domestic Developments

China’s Approach Contributes Wisdom and Strength
——The World Pays Attention to China's NPC Session and CPPCC Session

Liu Qu, People’s Daily

The sessions of both the NPC and the CPPCC held in the Great Hall of the People in May 2020.

China's national governance system and governance capacity have undergone a major test in combating the sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus. This "China’s approach", which has won worldwide praise, guides the world observant vision on China's National People’s Congress (NPC) Session and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference(CPPCC) Session in 2020 to further focus on China's national governance system and capacity. These two national sessions are held soon after the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Adhering to and improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promoting modernization of the national governance system and governance capability, China has not only demonstrated to the world its character and style, but also brought important enlightenments to the world.

The pandemic control is the touchstone of national governance ability. Under the leadership of the CPC and Central Government, 1.4 billion Chinese people have rallied together with "priority on life" to fight against the major epidemic with strength of the whole country. It takes just over one month to initially curb the spread of the pandemic, just about two months to control the number of new confirmed cases per day in single digit in the mainland, and only three months to achieve decisive results of the defense battles against the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan city and Hubei province. There is nothing comparable to this. As General Secretary Xi Jinping points out, the reason that our country's epidemic prevention and control, and resumption of work and production can be effectively promoted is the unparalleled important roles that are played by the CPC leadership and the superiority of our socialist system. Many international personages who have been exploring the secret of China's success point out that in such a special period, the convening of the two national sessions is a powerful proof of national governance at the top level.

During this year's two national sessions in China, there are many governance issues of great concerns by the world: improving the system and mechanism of major epidemic prevention and control, improving the national public health emergency management system, providing institutional guarantee for the successful completion of poverty alleviation tasks as scheduled, and achieving the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, promoting the transformation of institutional opening from commodity and factor flow-oriented to rule and regulation-oriented, and reviewing the Civil Code (Draft). Through the message by the national sessions of both the NPC and the CPPCC, can the world see the power and vision of "China's governance" based on the current development and long-term perspective. As Aikyn Konurov, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan, the third-largest party in the country’s parliament, believed, "the CPC has continuously promoted the improvement of the national governance system and governance capacity, and will lead China forward along the correct, scientific and efficient development path." "At the sessions of both the NPC and the CPPCC, delegates and members respectively from all over the country gathered to work for the development of the country and the well-being of its people. I believe that this will gather more wisdom and strength for the development of China and the world." P. Picard, a professor at the Eighth University of Paris in France, expressed the views of many international personages’ attentions to the national sessions of both the NPC and the CPPCC.

Today's world is full of instability and uncertainty. Improving governance has increasingly become a major issue for the international community to think about. Affected by the pandemic, the world economy is likely to decline by 3% or even more this year, and global trade volume continues to decline sharply. The United Nations Development Programme has warned of the first slowdown this year since the concept of human development was introduced in 1990. In the face of the severe and complex world economy and global development situation, it is fundamental to solve the problems of governance system and governance capacity. What is good governance? China gives the answer with practice: adherence to the “people first” and continuous benefit to the people. At this year's session of both the NPC and the CPPCC, hot topics such as poverty alleviation, building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and governing the country by rule of law, as well as key topics in reform, opening up, innovation and other development fields, are all aimed at continuously improving people's well-being and enhancing people's sense of gain, happiness and security. International observers generally believe that the governance experience from China is of great significance for many countries that are in urgent need of getting out of the haze of the epidemic and development dilemma.

Good governance is inseparable from a good system. More and more people in the world have found that the effective practice of bringing together broad public opinions and wisdom by the national session of both the NPC and the CPPCC is the outstanding embodiment of institutional advantages, while the institutional advantages are important magic weapons for China to overcome various risk challenges and achieve various goals. China, which has constantly achieved high-quality development and high-efficiency governance, firmly chooses to stand on the right side of history, adhere to multilateralism and democratization of international relations, plan development with an open, cooperative and win-win vision, unswervingly promote economic globalization in the open, inclusive, beneficial, balance and win-win direction, and promote the construction of an open world economy. It is generally acknowledged that "China's approach" has contributed wisdom and strength to human response to risks and challenges and seeking long-term development

(Edited excerpts of the article in the People's Daily, 24 May 2020)