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The press center is again bustle and hustle with activities as the
Chinese National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, is
about to start its annual session Friday.
"We have registered 2,900 news reporters from at home and abroad
this year, nearly the same number as NPC deputies," said a woman
clerk at the press center which also serves the annual session of
the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference starting
Wednesday.
"We have been quite busy over the last few days," she said.
Even though, the staff of the center, sited closer to the venue
that at previous sessions, felt more pressure from the
journalists.
A reporter from Japanese Kyodo News Agency complained that he
wanted more substantial materials about the bills deputies were
going to table at the NPC session while a reporter from the Anadolu
Agency of Turkey complained about difficulty in getting materials
in English. Some other reporters complained that there were many
unwanted materials and what they really want was lacking.
The press center has strived to satisfy the information-hungry
reporters, especially those coming from other countries. People at
the press center are trying to organize as many press conferences
as possible and prepare as many background materials as possible.
They have offered clues for interviews at more than 20 delegations
and opened a website to provide information on-line.
These are but part of the efforts by the organizers to have the
annual sessions as fully covered as possible.
In fact, China has already adopted a stance much opener than
before. Many localities, including Beijing, have a government
spokesman system in place and organize regular press briefings.
The recent evidence of China's open stance is the live
broadcasting of the opening ceremony of the six-party talks on the
nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula.
The full text of the draft amendment to the Constitution was
also made public for discussion as early as in December last
year.
It is expected that voting on the amendment to the Constitution
by NPC deputies might be televised live on the closing day of this
year's NPC session.
All these reflect the work style of China's central authorities
that is widely regarded as down-to-earth, pragmatic, open and
aboveboard.
While the NPC and CPPCC in session, the press center will
organize a number of press conferences. Apart from those to be held
by Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, there will
be press briefings devoted to China's unemployment problem, the
drive to rejuvenate the old industrial bases in northeast China and
the financial reform.
(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2004)
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