China's parliament will closely supervise the government's economic work this year to ensure stimulus plans are efficiently implemented, top legislator Wu Bangguo said Monday.
A key task for the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the parliament, is to improve supervision to ensure implementation of major policy decisions and successful accomplishment of this year's tasks for economic and social development, said Wu.
"We will devote a great deal of effort to promoting steady and rapid economic development and transforming the pattern of economic development,"Wu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said when delivering a work report to the annual parliament session.
Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday proposed to the parliament a massive economic stimulus plan, which included a 4-trillion yuan (585.5 billion U.S.dollars) two-year investment, to curb economic downturn amid global financial crisis.
The NPC Standing Committee, which has the power to decide upon major state issues when the NPC is not in session, will read and deliberate a series of work reports of the State Council, the cabinet, concerning economic development, Wu said.
High on the supervision agenda are reports on transforming the pattern of economic development, promoting development of small and medium-sized enterprises, preventing and controlling air pollution, as well as reports on the 2008 central government final budget and auditing work, Wu said.
Gao Qiang, vice chairman of the NPC Financial and Economic Affairs Committee and director of the NPC Standing Committee's Budgetary Affairs Commission, told reporters on Monday "one of the major supervision work of the parliament" this year is to oversee the country's 1.18-trillion yuan central investment, part of the 4-trillion yuan stimulus package.
Wang Rusong, researcher with the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the massive investment of the 4-trillion yuan brought new challenges to the country's environmental and ecological protection and thus supervision is vitally necessary.
"More efforts should be made to strengthen supervision over environmental evaluation of key projects and plans so as to avoid impact caused by large infrastructure construction," Wang said.
Premier Wen on Thursday called on governments at all levels to conscientiously subject themselves to the oversight by the people's congresses."
"We will strive to make sure that oversight takes place wherever administrative power is exercised and that government funds will be audited wherever they are used," Wen said.
The NPC Standing Committee normally meets once every two months. It may hold interim meetings when there is a special need.
Wu said the NPC Standing Committee will also improve supervision over issues affecting people's well-being.
In the coming year, the Standing Committee will hear and deliberate the State Council's special work reports on social safety net, employment, reconstruction in areas struck by the May earthquake last year, and vocational education, Wu said.
The legislature will also review the Supreme People's Court's report on improving civil law enforcement, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate's report on investigations into duty dereliction and rights infringement cases, Wu said.
In addition, Wu said the NPC Standing Committee will conduct law enforcement inspections on the Law on Trade Unions, the Food Safety Law and the Livestock Breeding Law to maintain and improve people's living standards and promote social harmony and stability.
Wu said the power of oversight is an important power granted to the people's congresses by the Constitution and laws.
He also said that the people's congresses oversee the work of the governments, courts and procuratorates, but this does not mean they are confrontational or create difficulties for the parties they oversee.
"On the contrary, the people's congresses and the organizations they oversee are working toward the same goals," he said.
When the people's congresses carry out their oversight work effectively in accordance with the law, it helps improve the work of the governments, courts and procuratorates, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2009)