Editorials

Expectations from NPC

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-05 07:48

For those familiar with the "big picture", the 2011 session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) that opens today may be more about macroeconomics than about anything else, because the road map for the 12th Five-Year Plan will assume center stage over the next 12 days.

Unfulfilled goals and proposals as general as balancing the "quantity and quality of growth" and restructuring the economy are likely to retain their prominent places in the guidelines to be laid out in the official documents. The same can be said about the Government Work Report, which Premier Wen Jiabao will deliver on the opening day.

It is logical and obligatory for an NPC session that opens and sets the tone for a new five-year national development program to focus on the big picture and economic orientation. But national lawmakers have to display strategic insight. It is important that they have a clear sense of direction that reflects national consensus, for that will determine the course of development for the next five years and beyond.

The once-a-year gathering of people's representatives, however, should not be reduced to an economic meeting. Although inflationary pressure, especially rising food and housing prices, and income disparity are causes of public dissatisfaction nowadays, the average citizen's worries are not limited to them only.

Even within the economic realm, the man or woman on the street cares more about what fruits the macroeconomic maneuvers bear at the micro level, or what differences they make in his or her everyday life. Common people may not care whether the government should increase or reduce GDP growth by a couple of percentage points, but they are extremely sensitive to its ultimate impact on their practical conditions.

Besides the predictable rhetoric about macroeconomic must-dos, people will be particularly interested in seeing whether and how such well-received proposals as "inclusive growth" and enhancing people's sense of happiness are translated into tangible benefits. The NPC needs to prove its effectiveness in treating local administrators' obsession with GDP figures and neglect of the human side of development.

A lot has been said about NPC deputies using micro-blogs to solicit people's opinions. It can be a good starting point if they are truly into constructive interaction with people in their constituencies. Micro-blogging can also help the deputies know the real situation in their constituencies. But we hope the new channel of communication makes the discourse in the Great Hall of the People sync with that in the public.

Corruption, wealth gap and food safety, for instance, have brewed phenomenal discontent across society. Simply reiterating commitment to earlier resolutions can no longer meet public expectations. It is time the national legislature strengthened its supervisory role to address prevailing and potentially destabilizing concerns.