The National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, has made further progress in carrying out international exchanges and cooperation, said Lou Qinjian, spokesman for the third session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), in Beijing on Tuesday.
Lou briefed reporters about the NPC's achievements in international exchanges at a press conference, which was held one day before the opening of the annual session of the 14th NPC.
"The NPC's international exchanges are an important part of China's overall diplomacy and the work of the NPC. Over the past year, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy, the NPC has expanded and deepened exchanges and cooperation with parliaments across the world, as well as with multilateral parliamentary organizations, and we have made new progress so far. The NPC has maintained interactions with the parliaments of 190 countries, set up 26 international exchange mechanisms and 143 bilateral friendship groups and is a member or observer of more than 20 multilateral parliamentary organizations, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)," said Lou.
"In international exchanges, our primary task has always been to implement the outcomes of President Xi Jinping's major diplomatic initiatives. Last year, Zhao Leji, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, held meetings or talks with more than 100 foreign dignitaries. The NPC hosted delegations from 86 countries and sent 71 delegations to 68 countries for visits or attending international conferences," said the spokesman.
Lou said foreign parliamentarians have learned much about China's governance and legislation experience through making visits to the country, where they can see first-hand the gains brought by China's whole-process people's democracy from the grassroots level up.
"We have carried out in-depth exchanges in governance and legislation experience. For instance, by visiting the Museum of the Communist Party of China, foreign parliamentarians get to understand that the leadership by the CPC in China is a choice by history and by the people. By visiting legislative contact points and deputies' stations at the grassroots level, they come to understand that China's whole-process people's democracy is a comprehensive, genuine and effective form of democracy. By visiting localities, enterprises and villages, they're able to see with their own eyes the gains in China's poverty alleviation achievements and the Chinese path to modernization," he said. "Going forward, the NPC will continue to leverage its unique strength as a legislative body in carrying out international exchanges, better serve China's overall diplomacy and write a new chapter of NPC's international exchanges on the new journey of Chinese modernization," said Lou.
Spokesman introduces NPC's achievements in international exchanges, cooperation
