In the area of foreign relations, we continued to consolidate the mechanisms for regular exchanges between the NPC and the congresses or parliaments of other countries. We carried out various forms of dialogue with the parliaments of the United Kingdom, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Egypt, as well as with the European Parliament. In response to provocations from the congresses of some countries concerning the Taiwan and Tibet questions, we engaged in fierce struggle and defended China's core interests through declarations from the chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Members of the Chairperson's Council, special committees and friendship groups worked to improve interaction with foreign congressional leaders, representatives and aides, increase mutual trust, remove misunderstandings, boost mutually beneficial cooperation and promote improvement in all aspects of foreign relations through exchange visits. We actively took part in the activities organized by international and regional parliamentary organizations and successfully hosted the fifth Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting.

The special committees of the NPC represent rich funds of knowledge and capable personnel and carry out their work on a regular basis. The Standing Committee makes good use of the role of the special committees. Shortly after it was formed, the new Standing Committee promptly held discussions with leading members of the special committees to exchange views and reach a common understanding on how to strengthen and improve the work of the NPC, especially the work of the special committees. Focusing on the central tasks of the NPC and its standing committee, the special committees did a great amount of effective work in improving the quality of legislation, making oversight more effective, making good use of the role of deputies and carrying out foreign relations work, and effectively promoted overall improvement in the work of the Standing Committee.

5. Effectively promoting self-improvement

Working on self-improvement helps to ensure that the NPC and its standing committee are able to properly exercise their functions and powers and give full play to their role. This Standing Committee attaches great importance to self-improvement and keeps ideological and political development high on its agenda. It maintains the correct political orientation and uses it to guide all the work of the NPC.

This Standing Committee held its first meeting on March 19 last year, the day after the First Session of the Eleventh NPC was successfully concluded. The requirement to maintain the correct political orientation in the work of the NPC was firmly established as the first order of business at that meeting. Time was then set aside for careful study of the guiding principles of the Seventeenth Congress and General Secretary Hu Jintao's important speeches to strengthen ideological consensus and improve understanding. Members of the Standing Committee and the special committees all agree that the people's congresses and their standing committees are organs of state power and extremely vital political institutions. Maintaining the correct political orientation is essential to the success of the work of the people's congresses. The most fundamental aspect of this effort is to organically integrate the leadership of the Party, the position of the people as the masters of the country and the rule of law, and the core of this effort is to uphold the leadership of the Party. The people's congresses and their standing committees exercise their functions and powers and decide on issues collectively in accordance with the law, so maintaining the correct political orientation depends on each and every person involved. To keep to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and uphold and improve the system of people's congresses in their work, we must more fully recognize the essential differences between the system of people's congresses and Western capitalist countries' system of political power.