More than 4,100 suggestions and proposals made by national legislators and political advisors were adopted by departments of China's State Council in 2022, with 2,100 of them turned into policies and measures to address issues concerning reform and development, as well as those related to major concerns of the public, an official said at a press conference Tuesday.

On Feb. 28, 2023, the State Council Information Office holds a policy briefing in Beijing about the handling of motions from deputies to the National People's Congress and proposals from members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee in 2022. [Photo by Liu Jian/China SCIO]

Government agencies handled 8,721 suggestions from deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) and 5,865 proposals from members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) last year, said Xing Huina, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office.

Senior officials from different government departments spoke at Tuesday's press conference about measures that were adopted in response to these suggestions and proposals.

The suggestions and proposals covered a wide range of topics concerning socioeconomic development, including technological innovation, food security, cross-border trade facilitation, and business environment improvement.

Lin Xin, secretary-general of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said the ministry has attached great importance to handling the suggestions and proposals, and aligned them with the ministry's annual tasks.

"Six NPC deputies and 287 CPPCC members proposed to strengthen basic research. We actively adopted their suggestions while formulating the 10-year plan for basic research," Lin said. She noted that China has continued to increase its funding for basic research, with its proportion in the country's total R&D spending reaching 6.3% in 2022, which will contribute to original research.

Chinese customs offices handled 148 suggestions from NPC deputies and 141 proposals from CPPCC members last year, according to Zhao Zenglian, an official from the General Administration of Customs of China.

Zhao said that the administration has adopted suggestions and proposals to optimize the business environment at ports and facilitate cross-border trade. It has made improvements including lowering costs, shortening customs clearance time, and simplifying import and export procedures.

"In 2022, the overall customs clearance time for imported and exported goods in China was 32.02 hours and 1.03 hours, respectively, down by 67.13% and 91.6% from 2017," Zhao said.

Issues relating to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people have always been a focal point for lawmakers and advisors over the years, said Wei Baigang, chief economist of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

According to Wei, the ministry received a total of 1,430 suggestions and proposals last year, covering aspects such as agricultural production, rural governance, protection of cropland, and rural reform. In particular, there were 236 suggestions and proposals concerning food security. Wei said the proposals have led to stronger policy support for agricultural production, leading to a record high of 686.55 billion kilograms of grain output in 2022.

Last year, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) handled 483 suggestions from NPC deputies and 349 proposals from CPPCC members, said Tian Shihong, vice minister of the SAMR. 

Significant progress has been made in pricing oversight and addressing unjustified charges levied on business, he said.

Going forward, Tian said the administration will step up efforts in price supervision, support enterprises in difficulty, and improve regulations to stimulate market vitality.