Reference News Network, March 12 report: On March 9, the Spanish website "Zhonghua Lecture Hall" published an article titled "China's Two Sessions: Public Participation in the Compilation of the 14th Five-Year Plan", written by Pablo Cadah. The article is translated as follows:
The National Two Sessions of China opened last week. Among many topics, the most closely watched by international analysts was the draft of the 14th Five-Year Plan being reviewed at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress. This document will guide China's development over the next five years.
China is known for its rational and planned public policies. The main guidelines for China's economic and social development are formulated by the leadership of the Communist Party of China and supported by high-level expert teams. These teams include officials with technical knowledge backgrounds as well as scientists, economists, and experts from other fields.
This model aims to ensure that public policies can fully address China's complexity. China has a population of more than 1.4 billion people, 56 ethnic groups, and significant regional differences in geography, economy, and society.
Over the past few decades, the Communist Party of China has broadened channels for public participation in the governance process through a series of measures, not only focusing on absorbing party officials and technical experts, but also reaching out to a broader citizenry.
Against this background, the preparation process of both the 13th Five-Year Plan and the 14th Five-Year Plan have introduced mechanisms for soliciting public opinions and suggestions. After analysis, these suggestions may influence the determination of priority issues in the five-year plan.
The most notable example is the preparation process of the 13th Five-Year Plan. In August 2020, the Chinese government launched its first online opinion solicitation campaign. Within just two weeks, it received more than one million suggestions, including the proposal "Establishing a Mutual Aid Pension System" from grassroots sources, which was formally incorporated into the final document.
The preparation process of the 14th Five-Year Plan achieved even broader coverage. To further expand public participation, during the preparation of the 14th Five-Year Plan, several official media outlets set up columns under the theme "I Offer My Suggestions for the 14th Five-Year Plan," inviting the public to offer opinions and suggestions on 27 different areas such as Party building, scientific and technological innovation, rural revitalization, ecological environment, and social security.
It is worth noting that the Communist Party is also advancing legislation directly related to this participatory democratic model. The National Development Planning Law will be the first law to explicitly stipulate the procedures for formulating, reviewing, and implementing the five-year plans. One of the most important aspects of the current draft of the National Development Planning Law is to emphasize strengthening the mechanism for public and expert participation, combining top-level design with public opinion solicitation, improving public participation, promoting extensive participation from all sectors of society, and comprehensively considering the opinions of citizens and the general public.
In recent years, the Communist Party has strengthened the mechanism for listening to and analyzing public opinions and suggestions during the compilation of the five-year plan. The use of digital tools has significantly expanded the process of soliciting public opinions. At the same time, the upcoming promulgation of the National Development Planning Law indicates that public participation will continue to play an important role in China's strategic planning. (Translated by Wang Meng)
Original: toutiao.com/article/7616250224025092635/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.