国内英语新闻:China's top political advisory body concludes annual session

BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, concluded its annual session on Wednesday.

Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, presided over the meeting held in the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.

Top Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli attended the closing meeting.

The session, which opened on March 3, approved the report on the work of the Standing Committee of the 12th CPPCC National Committee over the past year, and the report on the proposals submitted by CPPCC National Committee members to the session this year.

By 2 p.m. on March 7, CPPCC National Committee members had submitted 5,875 proposals concerning the country's economic development and social governance.

According to the report on the proposals, political advisors paid great attention to China's reforms and other prominent issues concerning people's interests and well-being.

Political advisors raised more than 1,000 proposals regarding the deepening of China's reforms in a comprehensive manner, and put forward close to 1,000 proposals on the healthy and sustainable development of the economy.

About 1,500 proposals focused on improving people's well-being, some 600 on pollution prevention and ecological progress, and over 500 on the modernization of the country's governance capabilities.

Political advisors also offered suggestions on promoting core socialist values and modernization of China's national defense and army, the report said.

The CPPCC is a patriotic united front organization of the Chinese people, serving as a key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, and a major manifestation of socialist democracy.

Members of the CPPCC are representatives of the CPC and non-Communist parties, personages without party affiliation, and representatives of people's organizations, ethnic minorities and various social strata.

The CPPCC also has the representation of compatriots of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, returned overseas Chinese, and specially invited people.