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SCMP Reporter

As delegates to the NPC and CPPCC gather at the Great Hall of the People for their annual plenary sessions this week, one has to ask oneself what all the fuss is about.

Both the NPC and CPPCC have been ridiculed as 'rubber-stamp' bodies and 'retirement homes' for officials. Critics dismiss them as useless, saying that despite all the noise made by the delegates every year, both bodies have no real power.

Chen Jianfu, Associate Professor of La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, said: 'It is overstating the case to call the NPC a rubber stamp. It's no longer a rubber stamp.'

Despite the pomp, real showtime for the NPC and CPPCC isn't the annual two-week plenary sessions. The NPC exercises its power mainly through its Standing Committee, which meets every month in Beijing, and its nine specialised commissions.

The NPC Standing Committee and its commissions  - which cover areas from foreign affairs to ethnic issues - have summoned government ministers to explain policies and their mistakes, and rejected laws which they considered inadequate and flawed.

The CPPCC also performs its main advisory function through its standing committee.

Most laws in China are drafted by professional specialists in government ministries and the NPC Legal Affairs Office.

The responsibility to review and approve them often rests with the Standing Committee, not the 3,000 NPC representatives who meet once a year at the Great Hall, unless they involve major national issues such as constitutional amendments or are revisions of major laws such as the Criminal Law.

Fu Hualing, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong, said both the Highway Law and the Marriage Law had seen a great deal of input from members of the NPC in the drafting process.

'The Marriage Law is actually a rather good piece of law,' Professor Fu said. 'The NPC was able to take into account the views of different groups through consultation.'

But as Professor Chen of La Trobe University pointed out, the law-making process is far from transparent and democratic.

Public participation remains limited. Those involved in drafting laws often collect public views and summarise them for reference.

By studying this material, NPC Standing Committee members can, in theory at least, try to keep the laws fair and balanced.

Critics say that such limited consultation compromises the quality of the legislation and that the views collected can be manipulated. Public consultations are only held in special cases such as the Marriage Law.

Professor Chen said one suggestion would be for non-governmental organisations to be involved in the process so that law-makers of the legislature's standing committee could take into account a wide variety of views.

But Professor Chen said the suggestion had lost its momentum after Beijing's crackdown on the banned Falun Gong sect because the leadership was more cautious when dealing with NGOs.

'It has become more difficult for NGOs to have active participation,' Professor Chen said. 'I don't see this happening in two or three years' time, may be in five to ten years.'

Another weakness of the system was how much supervisory power the NPC - and to a lesser extent the CPPCC - should have over the Government.

After witnessing corruption scandals involving judicial officials in recent years, many NPC and CPPCC delegates have called for a supervision law and demanded the power to scrutinise individual cases handled by the judiciary.

The legal profession opposes the plan, arguing it would compromise judicial independence.

'Some judicial officials say if NPC representatives can interfere, then who's going to supervise the NPC representatives to make sure they are not corrupt,' Professor Chen said.

In his 2001 Work Report,  NPC Chairman Li Peng included the supervision law as a major drafting item, but legal sources in China said the controversial legislation was not likely to see the light of day soon.



Rubber stamps, retirement homes or powerful bodies?