China's national legislature holds 2nd plenary meeting of annual session

BEIJING -- The fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, held its second plenary meeting Tuesday.

Chinese leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan attended the meeting.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, delivered a work report of the NPC Standing Committee to the meeting.

Reviewing the work in the past year, Li said the NPC Standing Committee further improved laws relating to the Constitution and safeguarded its supreme legal status, authority, and force.

Prioritizing the overall work of the Party and the country, the NPC Standing Committee moved faster to formulate and revise laws to provide legal safeguards for building a modern socialist nation in all respects, Li said.

The NPC Standing Committee also exercised more stringent and effective oversight and provided support and safeguards for deputies to perform their duties in accordance with the law, Li said.

He also summarized the NPC Standing Committee's work in advancing the NPC's international exchanges, advancing whole-process people's democracy and intensifying self-improvement efforts.

In the report, Li made arrangements for work in the year ahead, pledging efforts to use a complete set of institutions to ensure the implementation of the Constitution, make legislative work more systematic, integrated, and coordinated, and earnestly conduct oversight of the implementation of the law.

At Tuesday's meeting, lawmakers also heard a work report of the Supreme People's Court delivered by its president Zhou Qiang.

Zhou said the top court in the past year resolutely safeguarded national security and social stability, actively served high-quality economic and social development, upheld a people-centered approach, and pushed forward the reform of the judicial system and the development of smart courts.

For 2022, Zhou pledged efforts to uphold the Party's absolute leadership over judicial work, serve the building of a Peaceful China and rule of law on a higher level, and consolidate reform outcomes, among others.

Procurator-General Zhang Jun delivered a work report of the Supreme People's Procuratorate to the meeting.

Zhang said by fulfilling their duties in the past year, prosecutors have facilitated high-quality development, addressed the most pressing difficulties and problems that were of great concern to the people, and safeguarded fairness and justice.

For 2022, Zhang pledged efforts to further facilitate high-quality development and law-based governance. 

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, delivers a work report of the NPC Standing Committee to the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Liu Weibing]

Wang Chen presides over the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Shen Hong]

Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), delivers a work report of the SPC at the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Shen Hong]

Zhang Jun, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), delivers a work report of the SPP at the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Shen Hong]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Xing Guangli]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Jin Liwang]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Xing Guangli]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Gao Jie]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Shen Hong]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Ding Haitao]

Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) attend the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Xing Guangli]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Shen Hong]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Xing Guangli]

Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) attend the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Liu Weibing]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Liu Weibing]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Liu Weibing]

Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) attend the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Gao Jie]

The second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Jin Liwang]

Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) attend the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Wang Ye]

Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) attend the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Liu Weibing]

Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) attend the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Wang Ye]

Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sit in on the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) as non-voting participants at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao]

Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sit in on the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) as non-voting participants at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Li Xin]

Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) attend the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Xing Guangli]

Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sit in on the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) as non-voting participants at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2022. [Xinhua/Lu Ye]