<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>The National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, will hold its annual meeting from March 5 to March 11 , a spokesperson said on Monday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Spokesperson for the second session of the 14th NPC Lou Qinjian briefed the press and took questions from reporters.</div><div><br></div><div>Also on Monday the preparatory meeting adopted the agenda of the session, said the spokesperson.</div><div><br></div><div>The agendas are to deliberate the report on the work of the government, review the report on the implementation of the 2023 plan for national economic and social development and on the 2024 draft plan, and the draft plan for national economic and social development in 2024, review the report on the execution of the central and local budgets for 2023 and on the draft central and local budgets for 2024, and the draft central and local budgets for 2024, deliberate the bill put forward by the NPC Standing Committee on reviewing the draft revision to the Organic Law of the State Council,&nbsp; the work report of the NPC Standing Committee, work report of the Supreme People's Court, work report of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.</div><div><br></div><div>The people's congress system is the fundamental political system in China while on the pinnacle of the system sits the NPC, which is the supreme organ of state power.</div><div><br></div><div>According to the Constitution, all administrative, supervisory, adjudicatory and procuratorial organs of the state shall be created by the people's congresses and shall be responsible to them and subject to their oversight.</div><div><br></div><div>An important principle of the people's congress system and a basic requirement of its institutional design is that the power of all state organs and their staff are subject to oversight and checks.</div><div><br></div><div>Over 2.7 million deputies at the five levels of people's congresses, including nearly 3,000 deputies have their representation in NPC as it is designed to include people from various backgrounds and cover a diverse cross-section of society.</div><div><br></div><div>Deputies at various levels are key channels for people's voices and entitled and obliged to stand for the people's interests and express their requests.</div><div><br></div><div>Every ethnic group has its NPC deputy or deputies. NPC deputies submit motions and are the voice of the people they represent.</div><div><br></div><div>At the annual full session, they review and vote on important legal documents and personnel changes, such as the election of the president and vice president of China every five years, in addition to submitting proposals while the NPC Standing Committee will exercise its power, holding sessions to deliberate and adopt laws, among other matters.</div><div><br></div><div>When not in session, they interact with the people, take up training programs, and participate in inspections of law enforcement and research on important or urgent issues. Some of them are invited to observe bi-monthly legislative sessions of the NPC Standing Committee, a permanent body of the NPC.</div><div><br></div><div>NPC is the highest organ of State power and China's top legislative body while its permanent body is the Standing Committee. Each congress is elected for a 5-year term.</div><div><br></div><div>This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the NPC. Since Sept. 15, 1954, when about 1,200 deputies elected by universal suffrage gathered in Beijing to attend the first session of the first NPC.</div><div><br></div><div>It deliberates and passes major laws, decides on major issues, and supervises the work of the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>