While deliberating the Supervision Law during the 23rd Meeting of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, members of the committee agreed that the Draft Supervision Law was formulated under the guidance of the Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of "Three Represents" [a policy developed by former General Secretary Jiang Zemin of the CPC Central Committee, meaning the Party must always represent the requirements of the development of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of the development of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China] and in accordance with the Constitution. A testament to the unity of the CPC's leadership, the people's status of being masters of the country and the policy of governing the country by law, the Draft Supervision Law correctly handles the relationships between strengthening the supervision of people's congresses and adhering to the leadership of the CPC, and between strengthening the supervision of people's congresses and rendering support to the governments, courts and procuratorates so that they can function well according to law, embodying the principles of democratic centralism, collective supervision and orderly supervision.
Yang Jingyu, Director of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, revealed in his report that Article 3 of the Draft Supervision Law for the fourth round of deliberation originally read, "The standing committees of people's congresses at various levels, while exercising the power of supervision, shall subordinate to and serve the general goals of the state; adhere to the leadership of the CPC, Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of "Three Represents," the people's democratic dictatorship and the socialist road; and persist in reform and opening up." Some members of the NPC Standing Committee argued that the CPC's basic line for the primary stage of socialism-to unite with and lead the people of all ethnic groups in the endeavor to build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic and highly civilized modern socialist country by taking economic development as the central task, adhering to the Four Cardinal Principles [adherence to the socialist road, the people's democratic dictatorship, the leadership of the Communist Party, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought], persisting in reform and opening up, developing the spirit of self-reliance and pioneering enterprises with painstaking efforts-- should be incorporated into the law in its entirety. The Legislative Affairs Committee considered this suggestion and revised the draft version of this article as: "The standing committees of people's congresses at various levels, while exercising the power of supervision, shall center on the general goals of the state; take economic development as the central task; adhere to the leadership of the CPC, Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of "Three Represents," the people's democratic dictatorship and the socialist road; and persist in reform and opening up." Wang Tao, a member of the NPC Standing Committee, said at a panel discussion that the Supervision Law was formulated on a sound basis. Over a long period of time, both the NPC and local people's congresses have accumulated rich experiences in exercising the power of supervision. Based on these experiences, the Supervision Law, which covers the supervision of both the NPC and local people's congresses, helps them exercise the power in a more standardized manner, thus improving the efficiency of the supervision. The main task of the current NPC Standing Committee is to improve the quality of legislation and the efficiency of supervision. The adoption of the Supervision Law is essential to improve the quality of supervision of the NPC Standing Committee and the standing committees of local people's congresses at various levels. It is also an important step taken by the NPC Standing Committee to improve the quality and efficiency of supervision and promote the development of China's legal system. It has crystallized the experiences of the standing committees of people's congresses over a long period of exercising supervision in the form of law. Also, it has legalized the power of supervision of the NPC Standing Committee and the standing committees of local people's congresses at various levels.
Cong Bin, a member of the NPC Standing Committee believes that the Draft Supervision Law, which has undergone four major revisions, is rather mature. According to him, four major characteristics stood out in the formulation process: The principle that the Constitution should be taken as the basis of legislation was embodied; the essential spirit of building political democracy with Chinese characteristics was materialized; clear-cut and workable provisions on the power of supervision of people's congresses at various levels were put forward and constructive suggestions of members of the NPC Standing Committee were taken into account.
Correct use of constitutional power
The supervision of the standing committees of people's congresses is highly political. It is exercised on behalf of the state and the people and is legally binding. A correct understanding the principles of exercising the power of supervision is therefore of paramount importance to the building of political democracy with Chinese characteristics and the appropriate exercise of this constitutional power by guarding against dereliction of duty and overextension of power.
According to Yang Jingyu, Sub-article 2 of Article 19 of the Draft Supervision Law for the fourth round of deliberation originally said, "The people's governments on par shall study and deal with the opinions made by members of the standing committees of people's congresses after reviewing the report on the implementation of the fiscal budget and the audit report." Some members of the NPC Standing Committee argued that their opinions on the report on the implementation of the economic and social development plan should also be studied and dealt with by the governments. The Legislative Affairs Committee considered the suggestion and revised the draft version of this sub-article as: "The people's governments on par shall study and deal with the opinions made by members of the standing committees of people's congresses after reviewing the report on the implementation of the economic and social development plan, the report on the implementation of the fiscal budget and the audit report." Article 9 of the Draft Supervision Law puts forward the ways of determining the subjects of other state organs" work reports to be heard and reviewed by the standing committees of people's congresses. Some members of the NPC Standing Committee suggested that how to decide on the themes of law enforcement inspections should also be made clear in the law. The Legislative Affairs Committee considered their suggestion and revised Article 21 of the draft law for the fourth round of deliberation as: "The standing committees of people's congresses at various levels shall, with reference to the ways specified in Article 9 of this law, choose several major issues that bear on the general goals of reform, development and stability and the people's immediate interests and are widely concerned in society every year and conduct law enforcement inspections on the implementation of relevant laws and regulations in a planned manner." Some members of the NPC Standing Committee raised the question whether the Decision on Strengthening Examination and Supervision Over Central Government Budget and the Decision on Strengthening Supervision Over the Economic Work, adopted by the NPC Standing Committee in December 1999 and March 2000 respectively, will remain in force after the Supervision Law is adopted. The Legislative Affairs Committee noted that the work procedures put forward in the two decisions on strengthening the supervision of the NPC were not included in the Supervision Law. In addition, although the main procedures on facilitating the work of the NPC Standing Committee were incorporated in the Supervision Law, some detailed work procedures were not included and were unnecessary to be included. Given these considerations, it ruled that the two decisions would remain effective.
Chen Shineng, a member of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, said at a panel discussion in the 23rd Meeting of the committee that it had been 20 years since the idea of the Supervision Law was first proposed. Mindful of the extensive theoretical and practical research over the past years, he noted that democracy prevailed throughout the process, especially in the recent few rounds of deliberation. The Draft Supervision Law was highly mature, he commented, adding that in the fourth draft of the law formulated at the 23rd Meeting of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, a large number of suggestions proposed at the previous sessions were taken into consideration. The draft law fully testified to the unity of the CPC's leadership, the people's status of being masters of the country and the policy of governing the country by law, to the fact that the supervision exercised by people's congresses is part of China's supervisory system and to the aspirations of people's congresses to exercise supervision according to law, guarantee and standardize their supervision, urge the governments to run state affairs by law and promote judicial justice. He believes the fourth draft was wisely devised, as it clarifies the respective positions of people's congresses and their standing committees. The law states that the standing committees of people's congresses are responsible for exercising supervision, an arrangement that conforms to the realities in the supervisory work of people's congresses.
Proceeding from China's realities and actual conditions, the NPC Standing Committee has improved the draft in a differentiated manner. It made deeper and more detailed provisions concerning issues where rich practical experiences were available. If there were not enough experiences but provisions had to be made, it only put forward general principles to leave room for further reforms. It postponed making provisions regarding issues where there was a lack of experiences and consensus among different parties until the time is ripe for amendments. This train of thought is scientific and appropriate for legislation.
Under the relevant provisions of the Supervision Law, the standing committees of people's congresses are required to pay greater attention to the concerns of the general public and become more competent in exercising the power of supervision, so that the supervision can be deepened and become more efficient. They are expected to review specific problems on a regular basis until the problems are resolved. The standing committees of people's congresses will have to shoulder a heavier workload, as the requirements upon them are raised.
