The fourth session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) closed on Sunday, bestowing even more responsibility on its members in the enactment of their duties, as they are required to offer even more constructive advice and play an even greater role in supervising the work of the government.

The CPPCC gathers scholars, professors and experts from all walks of life as its members and its nine specialized committees conduct investigations into particular issues confronting the nation. The proposals its members put forth contributed a great deal to the drafting of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

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The political resolution adopted by this session puts the transformation of the country's development mode at the top of the agenda and places particular emphasis on improving people's livelihoods. This requires that CPPCC members go to the grassroots level and conduct even more fact-finding investigations so that this goal can be realized.

Only by doing so can they get first-hand information about people's concerns and put forward high-quality motions that will contribute to the adjusting of central government policy in favor of sustainable development, social harmony and improving people's livelihoods.

The total number of motions put forward by CPPCC members during this session was 5,762. This was 6 percent more than the annual session last year. Of these, 101 motions have been sent as letters to the related government departments, while some 250 have been either merged with other motions on the same topic or dismissed as not as important as others on the same topic.

The message is that some CPPCC members still need to do more work before they put forward motions. They need to spend more time and energy studying the government work report and getting familiar with government policies, as they need to be able to extrapolate from what they know about the State policies and apply this knowledge to the problems they identify in their investigations.

The next five years will be a crucial period for China as the country needs to accomplish the transformation of its development mode. Its economic growth must become sustainable and not achieved at the expense of the environment. CPPCC members are called on to commit themselves to this task.

That means that they need to play their role not just as advisor to the government, they also need to fulfill their role as watchdog and oversee how government policies are implemented. This is especially important when it comes to the waste of resources and environmental pollution.

CPPCC members must develop a strong sense of mission, so as to have enough courage to defy all the hardships they will encounter - including bureaucracy or unhealthy tendencies or even abuse of power by government officials - that might prevent them from finding the truth in their investigations.

That is what a qualified CPPCC member is supposed to be and also what this country and its people expect of them.

(China Daily 03/14/2011 page8)