The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a Chinese people's patriotic united front organization, a key institution of multi-party cooperation and political consultations under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and a major channel for promoting socialist democracy.

At present, the CPPCC consists of representatives of the CPC and non-Communist parties, personages without party affiliation, people's organizations, and representatives from ethnic minorities and from all social strata. In addition, it also has the representation of compatriots of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Taiwan, returned overseas Chinese, and specially invited people.

The main functions of the CPPCC are to conduct political consultation, exercise democratic supervision and participate in the discussion and handling of state affairs.

Political consultation means to offer ideas on major policies of the central and local governments, major policy decisions concerning the country's political, economic, cultural and social affairs before the decisions are made, or on main issues involved in the process of execution of the decisions.

Democratic supervision means to supervise, by means of offering suggestions and criticisms, over the implementation of China's Constitution, other laws, regulations and major policies, over the work of state organs and their functionaries.

The participation in the discussion and handling of state affairs means to organize various parties, organizations, people from various ethnic groups and social sectors to take part in the country's political, economic, cultural and social life in all possible ways.

The CPPCC is a great creation of the CPC by integrating the Marxist and Leninist united front theories with China's specific national conditions, and is the fruition of years' concerted efforts made the CPC, non-Communist parties, people's organizations, and patriotic personages of all nationalities in China and all social strata, just as President Jiang Zemin, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said at a meeting on September 22, 1999 in celebration of the 50th founding anniversary of the CPPCC.

To promote unity and democracy under the leadership of the CPC is the great mission of the CPPCC. It is the historical basis for the CPPCC to form and develop and represents the orientation and continued mission of the organization in its future development.

The current CPPCC is also known as new Political Consultative Conference to differentiate it from the old that was convened in 1946 following the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1945 upon the decision taken during the negotiations between the CPC and the Kuomintang in Chongqing for preparing the formation of a new government. The old conference was convened on January 10, 1946, with the participation of representatives of the Kuomintang, the CPC, the Democratic League, the Youth Party and noted public figures. But it became disintegrated in November of the same year when the Kuomintang unilaterally proclaimed the convocation of a "National Assembly" in violation of the resolution of the political consultative conference.

The first session of the new political consultative conference, known as CPPCC, was held in Beijing in September 1949 to act as the supreme state body.

The session adopted a "Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" which bore the nature of a temporary constitution, proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), elected a council of the Central People's Government of the PRC with Mao Zedong as its chairman, and elected the First National Committee of the CPPCC. It also took decisions on the Chinese capital, national flag and national anthem, and the way of numbering the years.

The CPPCC ceased to act as the body of supreme state power in September 1954 after the National People's Congress, the supreme organ of state power in China, was established. But it continued to exist as China's patriotic united front organization of the broadest representation and has played a vital role in the country's political, economic, cultural and social affairs and international exchanges.

The CPPCC has a National Committee and local committees that function for a term of five years. A plenary session is held annually.

(Xinhua)