In the afternoon on 3 March 2005, the Third Session of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opened in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing amid the resounding national anthem of the People’s Republic of China. This is an annual gathering of China’s multi-party cooperation and political consultation, ushering in China’s top political event of each spring—the National People’s Congress (NPC) and CPPCC meetings.

JIA Qinglin, CPPCC National Committee Chairman, said at the opening session that China’s reform and development are at a critical moment and the CPPCC has a great future with an important role to play. He called on governments at all levels and all CPPCC members to make new and greater contributions to the building of an all-round well-off society and the revitalizing of the Chinese nation. 2186 out of the 2295 CPPCC members were present at the opening session, who will, during the nine-and-a-half-day meeting, carry out their sacred duty of political consultation, democratic supervision and participation in deliberation and administration of state affairs by putting forward proposals and suggestions on major issues concerning the people’s livelihood and state affairs.

HU Jintao, WU Bangguo, WEN Jiabao, ZENG Qinghong, HUANG Ju, WU Guanzheng, LI Changchun, LUO Gan and other leaders took their seats at the rostrum, offering their congratulations on the opening of the session, which also shows the great importance that the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and government attach to the work of the CPPCC. According to the Constitution of China, the system of political consultation and multi-party cooperation is the basic political system of China, and is regarded, together with the NPC system, as a cornerstone of China’s political system.

During the meeting, Party and state leaders will visit the CPPCC members at places of their stay to hear their proposals and suggestions. Such face-to-face consultation and discussion of state affairs have been going on for 56 years ever since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. A body of the elite of our society, the CPPCC has actually become the greatest think tank of the CPC and the Chinese government.

In accordance with the agenda, JIA Qinglin, entrusted by the Standing Committee of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee, delivered the work report at the opening session. He said that the CPPCC witnessed great progress and innovation in the year 2004, with the Tenth National Committee of the CPPCC firmly adhering to the two great themes of unity and democracy, serving the overall situation in support of the central task, and being truthful and practical in creative development. Therefore 2004 was a year of new achievements for the CPPCC in implementing its function of political consultation, democratic supervision and participation in deliberation and administration of state affairs.

As to CPPCC’s work in 2005, JIA Qinglin said that 2005 was a critical year to complete the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” and lay a solid foundation for the economic and social development in the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period. The CPPCC shall practice the scientific development perspective and effectively complete all of its missions, so as to contribute to the reform and opening-up and the modernization drive, to promoting the overall, coordinated and sustained socio-economic development and to building a harmonious socialist society. Meanwhile, it shall make new efforts in serving the general situation and achieve new progress in improving its own construction.

Then, ZHANG Huaixi, Vice Chairman of CPPCC, reported to the meeting the work about proposals raised since the Second Session of the Tenth CPPCC. He said that in the past one year, the CPPCC received 4478 proposals in all. After examination, 4263 of them were put on record. Of all the proposals, 115 were put forward by the central committees of 8 non-communist parties and the All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce. 34 were raised by special sub-committees. Those proposals that were not put on record were forwarded to departments concerned for deliberation. By 20 February 2005, 99.15% of the proposals had been properly dealt with.

The opening session was presided over by WANG Zhongyu, CPPCC Vice Chairman. Seated in the front row at the rostrum were CPPCC Vice Chairmen LIAO Hui, LIU Yandong, Apei.AwangjinMei and Pabala.gelielangjie, LI Guixian, ZHANG Siqing, DING Guangxun, HUO Yingdong, MA Wanqi, BAI Lichen, LUO Haocai, ZHANG Kehui, ZHOU Tienong, HAO Jianxiu, CHEN Kuiyuan, Abdul’ahat Abdulrixit, XU Kuangdi, LI Zhaochao, HUANG Mengfu, LI Meng, and Secretary General ZHENG Wantong.

After the opening session, CPPCC Chairman JIA Qinglin and Vice Chairmen WANG Zhongyu, LIAO Hui, LIU Yandong, LUO Haocai, ZHANG Kehui, and Secretary General ZHENG Wantong, met the new members of the Tenth CPPCC.