Top legislator Wu Bangguo has just wrapped up his three-nation tour to Russia, Austria and Italy. Apart from enhancing the all-round relationship between China and the three countries, his visit is significant in terms of fostering friendly relations between China's National People's Congress (NPC) and the parliaments of these countries.
During the visit, Wu attended meetings under the framework of the regular exchange mechanism between the NPC and the Federation Council (Upper House) and between the NPC and the State Duma (Lower House) of Russia respectively. A highlight of his visit to Italy is the signing of an agreement on the establishment of a regular exchange mechanism with the Senate of the Italian Parliament over and above the existing arrangement with its Chamber of Deputies.
So, why have Western parliaments become interested in maintaining a regular exchange relationship with the NPC despite the difference between congresses and parliaments?
According to Wu's Report on the Work of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in March this year, there are essential differences between the system of people's congresses and the Western parliamentary system.
First, China has a multi-party cooperative system under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) instead of a multi-party system as in the West. As there are no party groups in people's congresses, deputies to the people's congresses carry out their activities under the leadership of the CPC regardless of whether they are members of the CPC or not.
Second, China's state organs fulfill their duties and responsibilities under the leadership of the CPC with the people's congresses exercising state power in a unified way. It's essentially different from the Western system of separation of the three powers.
Third, deputies to people's congresses do not represent a single party or group as members of Western parliaments do. Instead, they represent different regions, ethnic groups and sectors of society, thus being broadly representative.
These essential differences have been shaped by China's unique modern history, demographic composition and social system, among other conditions. Just like anything uniquely Chinese, the system of people's congresses is not above doubts and criticism.
It was not too long ago that some Western media had described the NPC as a rubber-stamp institution. However, thanks to the social and economic success of China in the past three decades serving as proof of the viability of this system, more and more parliaments of other countries have begun to show an interest in learning about the institution of people's congress.
Over the past few years, the NPC has received hundreds of parliamentary delegations from abroad and has founded nearly a hundred friendship groups with national parliaments across the world in response to their initiatives. On the multilateral front, the NPC participates in the Inter-Parliamentary Union meetings and has hosted a number of international parliamentary conferences. The regular exchange mechanism - which mandates visits and exchanges between the congresses and the parliaments concerned - is the culmination of the relationship between the NPC and foreign parliaments. As of now, the NPC has 15 such mechanisms with parliaments of the US, Russia, France, the UK, and Europe. In short, the NPC has become an indispensable part of international parliamentary diplomacy.
Given the big differences in history, culture, economy and education, it's easy to understand why the Western world sometimes finds it hard to appreciate and even understand China. As a matter of fact, many of the misunderstandings and misjudgments of the Western world about China can be attributed to the enormous differences between the two sides.
However, the international engagement of the people's congresses proves that being different is no reason to prevent the NPC from maintaining friendly relationship with other parliaments. Nor does this prevent the NPC from contributing to multilateral parliamentary forums. This underscores that differences in a country's system should not stand in the way of exchange and communication between nations.
What's extraordinary about China in coping with differences is that, on the one hand, it has always stood her ground without giving in to pressures for sameness with the Western countries. On the other hand, it has always been striving for common ground while shelving issues on which it does not see eye to eye with other countries. Being able to keep such a balance has helped sustain a friendly international climate for China's economic development. It has also enabled the Western world to gain a completely different perspective on Chinese systems and modalities.
With the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic drawing near, experience tells us that China should stand as a confident nation and be bold enough to advance the cause she has chosen for the benefit of her people. Her success stories at home will eventually make it easier for anything different to be accepted and appreciated in the wider world. This is borne out by the acceptance and appreciation of the system of people's congresses.
The author is a doctoral scholar with the Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, China University of Political Science and Law