The 2020 national Two sessions, postponed due to the impact of COVID-19, will kick off on May 21. At the same time, this year will be a decisive year for China to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and fight poverty, and the 13th Five-Year Plan will come to an end. In such a special period of the two sessions, what will be noteworthy?

Hotspot 1: How to play the "second half" of epidemic prevention and control?

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the CPC Central Committee has given top priority to epidemic prevention and control, and General Secretary Xi Jinping has personally directed and made arrangements to put people's lives and health first. Through arduous efforts, decisive achievements have been made in the battle to protect Wuhan and Hubei province, and major strategic achievements have been made in the battle against the epidemic.

At present, epidemic prevention and control has entered the "second half".

First, the situation at home and abroad is still not optimistic. On the one hand, the situation outside China is grim and complex, with the number of confirmed cases and deaths rising. According to who data released on Monday, the number of confirmed cases outside China exceeded 4.34 million and the death toll reached 297,000. On the other hand, there are still clusters of cases in some parts of China recently.

Second, researchers believe that THE COVID-19 epidemic may persist for a long time, intermittently in the local epidemic, to be prepared for a "protracted war". On a regular basis, we need to coordinate epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development.

Therefore, in the next stage of this year, how to prevent and control the epidemic on a regular basis and promote the improvement of the public health system will be an important topic of the NPC and CPPCC. In addition, how China will strengthen international cooperation in the fight against the epidemic is also closely watched by the world.

Hu Yu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultation (CPPCC) and president of the Union Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said the current risks and challenges of epidemic prevention and control must not be thrown away. The overall prevention and control strategy of "preventing imported cases from abroad and preventing a rebound from within" must be fully implemented, with timely detection, rapid treatment, precise control and effective treatment.

At the same time, "The COVID-19 response has exposed weaknesses in China's major epidemic prevention and control system and public health system." "During the two sessions, I and other deputies and committee members will focus on strengthening weak links, closing loopholes and strong and weak areas, and conduct in-depth discussions on improving epidemic monitoring and early warning capacity, improving public health emergency management and treatment system, and rationalizing the medical and health system," Hu said.

How to set targets for economic and social development this year?

At present, the epidemic is still spreading abroad, and its impact on the world economy is still in the process of development and evolution. China's economic development is also facing unprecedented difficulties and challenges.

In a grim and complex situation, maintaining basic economic stability and ensuring people's wellbeing are our core goals. Therefore, this year's government work report will determine how to set the goals of economic and social development, including GDP growth rate, employment, income, environmental protection and other tasks, has become the focus of much attention.

At present, China's economy is still under great downward pressure. China's GDP fell 6.8% year-on-year in the first quarter. Leading indicators remained in a downward trend from January to April.

Despite the daunting challenges, the fundamentals of China's long-term economic growth remain unchanged. In the second half of this year, attention will be focused on how to stabilize employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, investment, and expectations, and ensure that people's employment, basic people's livelihood, market entities, food and energy security, industrial and supply chains are stable, and grassroots operations are maintained.

Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Macroeconomic research Department of the Development Research Center of The State Council, said that during the two sessions, deputies and members will focus on how to adhere to the general tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, expand domestic demand as the strategic pivot, and restore the "three driving forces" of investment, consumption and export that drive economic growth.

"To boost the economy, in addition to policy stimulus, we need to deepen reforms. The government work report will release a series of new policy signals, and our confidence will be even stronger." Zhang liqun said.

Hotspot 3: How to overcome the "hard bones" to complete the "plus test"?

The year 2020 is the last year to win the battle against poverty, and the remaining task of poverty alleviation is arduous. At present, there are still 52 impoverished counties, 2,707 impoverished villages, and 5.51 million people still living in poverty. Nearly 2 million of those already out of poverty are at risk of returning to poverty, and nearly 3 million of marginalized people are at risk of falling into poverty.

At present, the battle against poverty has entered its final countdown, with the focus on the "three regions and three prefectures" and other areas with deep poverty, and the 52 poverty-stricken counties and 1,113 villages with a large number of poor people and difficulty in lifting themselves out of poverty. In addition to the "hard work" of tackling the "poverty among the poor", the epidemic has made it difficult to carry out some assistance work, prevent migrant workers from working in rural areas and face difficulties in alleviating poverty through industry.

Under tight time and pressure, the deputies and members need to pool their wisdom and make suggestions on how to successfully accomplish the task of poverty alleviation as scheduled and effectively respond to the test brought by the epidemic.

Wang Sangui, president of the China Institute of Poverty Alleviation, said that the progress in poverty alleviation is in line with expectations and has made remarkable achievements. According to the arrangement of the relevant departments, one of the priorities of this year's work is to strengthen poverty alleviation by industries and establish a working mechanism to prevent people from returning to poverty. The next step is to link poverty alleviation with rural revitalization, and promote the development of rural industries, talents, culture and ecology in an all-round way.

How to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects?

The year 2020 marks the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Standing at the historical juncture of the two Centenary Goals and facing a more complex environment at home and abroad, how to ensure the achievement of the goals and lay a good foundation for the new phase and new voyage will also be an important focus of discussion on behalf of the committee members.

We must resolutely fight the three critical battles to forego and defuse major risks, take targeted measures to alleviate poverty, and prevent and control pollution. This is a necessary requirement for completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and a critical hurdle for achieving high-quality development. Among them, poverty alleviation is a hard task that must be accomplished in completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and this year has entered a crucial stage of decisive victory.

In addition, the ecological environment is not only an important well-being for people's livelihood, but also a guarantee for sustainable economic and social development. Data from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment showed that from January to October 2019, the quality of surface water in sections better than the three categories increased by 2.3 percentage points year-on-year. The proportion of sections in inferior 5 categories decreased by 1.9 percentage points year-on-year. The average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in cities at and above the prefecture level was flat year-on-year.

To complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects is not only reflected in the material aspects of economic development, scientific and technological progress, and increased income of the people. It is also reflected in the spiritual aspects of people's pursuit of fairness and justice, protection of individual rights, and demand for a colorful cultural life.

Xin Ming, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (Chinese Academy of Governance), said that "comprehensive" issues such as housing, elderly care, education, medical care and cultural development have always been hot topics during the two sessions.

Xin Ming said that the next step, in the "14th Five-Year Plan" preparation should make strategic response and planning, aiming at building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the development goals will be set higher, including improving national governance capacity and level, deepening reform, promoting ecological environmental protection, to achieve higher quality and sustainable economic development.

Hotspot five: people's livelihood security how to rescue the bottom?

People's livelihood is a vital part of their lives. In the context of this year's epidemic, ensuring people's livelihood is a top priority.

Above all, employment pressure is inescapable. China's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 6.2 percent in February, up one percentage point from a year earlier in April, according to the NBS.

Among the employment groups, college students and migrant workers are particularly prominent. The number of college graduates in 2020 will reach 8.74 million, a record high. Affected by the epidemic, the employment signing rate of graduates this year is significantly lower than in previous years. In addition, small and medium-sized enterprises have laid off workers or reduced the number of workers, some migrant workers have been forced to return home.

The economic downturn has also had a direct impact on incomes. How to protect the "rice bag" and "money bag" of the people, strengthen the security of the low-income group, especially the disadvantaged group is urgent.

Xu Guangjian, a professor at renmin University of China's School of Public Administration, said that people's livelihood is the most sensitive issue.

The central government recently issued a strong signal of "stable employment" policy. The State Council has issued a series of policies to help small and micro enterprises, cut taxes and fees, and promote employment for key groups such as college graduates, migrant workers and people with employment difficulties. During the two sessions, deputies and members will pool their wisdom and make plans to study how to increase unemployment security and strengthen the security of the disadvantaged groups; We will further ease the burden of small and medium-sized enterprises to help the market recover and create more job opportunities. We will promote new growth drivers and upgrade the service sector.

In addition, "difficult to seek medical treatment" "expensive" how to further crack, garbage classification, compulsory education stage "nearby enrollment" new policy effect, how to promote the reconstruction of old residential areas, how to speed up the construction of nursing homes and other issues, will also be widely concerned topics.

Hotspot 6: What breakthrough has the Civil Code made to protect people's rights and interests?

During the two sessions, the third session of the 13th National People's Congress will also review the draft civil Code, which has been in the making for many years.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the work of formulating civil law was initiated four times. In 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee decided to put forward the major legislative task of compiling a civil code. In 2017, the general Provisions of civil Law were adopted by a vote. Since then, the STANDING Committee of the National People's Congress has deliberated on the sub-draft for many times. A "complete" draft of China's civil Code made its debut in 2019.

The draft Civil Code, which is a combination of the general Provisions of the Civil Law and the drafts of different parts of the Civil Code, consists of seven parts plus supplementary provisions and has 84 chapters and more than 1,200 articles. It is a law that comprehensively protects people's rights and interests. It is known as an "encyclopedia of social life" and a "declaration" of people's rights in the new era.

The draft civil Code not only covers every aspect of people's life, food, clothing, shelter, transportation, birth, aging, illness and death, as well as production and operation, but also keeps pace with The Times and constantly meets the requirements of The Times.

Wang Yi, dean of the Law school of Renmin University of China, said the draft civil Code reflects the characteristics of the 21st century and directly responds to many social and livelihood issues. For example, the protection of personal information in the context of big data, the conclusion and performance of electronic contracts in the Internet environment, and the code of conduct that should be followed in medical and scientific research activities related to human genes and embryos, etc. "These topics will continue to be hot topics during the deliberation process of the two sessions." He said.

In addition, the draft civil Code received 114,574 comments from 13,718 netizens during the public comment period on chinanews.com. Wang yi said that feedback on the more concentrated aspects, will also be the focus of the review. For example, "data and network virtual property in the draft of general Provisions, further response to the 'three rights separation' of contracted land in the draft of Real Rights, and property service contracts closely related to thousands of households in the draft of contract, etc."

How will China respond to an increasingly complex external environment?

China's external environment is becoming increasingly complicated due to the spread of the global epidemic. In the face of the global economic downturn, some Western politicians have repeatedly blamed China for their failure to prevent COVID-19. Some Western media have tarnished China's image. Populism and narrow-minted nationalism are on the rise.

The central committee pointed out that we should adhere to the bottom-line thinking and be prepared to deal with changes in the external environment for a long time. At the same time, based on this judgment, what kind of foreign policy China will adopt and how to handle international relations in the future will attract the attention of the world.

The CPPCC national committee, the central party school (national school of administration), dean of the school of marxism Zhang Zhanbin said, unity instead differences, to rational to eliminate prejudice, in line with the concept of human destiny community has overcome difficulties, strengthen international cooperation, crack worldwide problem and challenges, we deal with the basic aim of the current international relations.

On the other hand, "the more complicated the external environment is, the more important it is to practice our internal skills." "At present, we need to keep our feet firmly on the ground, keep the bottom line, promote epidemic prevention and control as well as economic and social development, and do our own thing well," Zhang said. It also contributes to global social and economic stability.

In addition, he said, during the two sessions, how to safeguard China's overall opening up, further promote stable foreign policies, continue to provide China's plan for building a community with a shared future for mankind, and tell China's story to create a good environment for international public opinion will also be hot topics for representatives to discuss.

Source: Xinhua