The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, held a press conference on Thursday afternoon ahead of its annual session. 

Guo Weimin, spokesperson for the fifth session of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC, briefed the media on the session and took questions from reporters.

The CPPCC will open its session on March 4 and conclude on March 10, Guo said.

Noting that making suggestions on economic development is an important task of the CPPCC, Guo said that members of the CPPCC National Committee have put forward a number of suggestions to tackle the triple pressure on the economy, namely shrinking demand, supply shock and weakening expectation.

China's economy maintained a steady recovery last year, growing by 8.1 percent, with its gross domestic product (GDP) exceeding 114 trillion yuan (about $18.1 trillion) and per capita GDP exceeding $12,000, according to Guo.

China's foreign trade is expected to remain in a reasonable range in 2022 despite uncertainties and pressure, and China's continued economic recovery and robust growth in new industries and business models will help stabilize employment by creating more jobs, he said.

China's long-term economic fundamentals remain sound and unchanged, he stressed.

China's dynamic zero-COVID policy has helped keep the operation of the global industrial and supply chains basically stable, Guo said when responding to a question on China's policies on pandemic prevention and control.

He also stressed China's contributions to the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that the country has provided over 2.1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for over 120 countries and international organizations.

China sent 37 medical expert teams to 34 countries and provided anti-pandemic materials including masks, protective suits, ventilators and testing equipment to 150 countries and 13 international organizations, according to Guo.

The spokesperson also mentioned the situation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), saying that China's central government and relevant authorities are sparing no effort to help the region combat COVID-19.

Highlighting that the CPPCC members come from various walks of life and ethnic groups, Guo said that as an important channel and specialized body for socialist consultative democracy, the CPPCC is an important institutional arrangement for developing whole-process people's democracy.

The CPPCC has played an important role in facilitating scientific and democratic decision-making through consultation, oversight, participation and cooperation, he said.

As written in China's white paper on its democracy, "China's whole-process people's democracy integrates process-oriented democracy with results-oriented democracy, procedural democracy with substantive democracy, direct democracy with indirect democracy and people's democracy with the will of the state."

Guo also criticized the American democracy, saying that the United States uses democracy as a pretext to serve its own interests. 

"Democracy is diverse in its forms, and is not a patent held by a few countries," he said. "The democratic systems of countries should be chosen independently by their own peoples based on national conditions." 

(Cover: The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) holds a press conference in Beijing, China, March 3, 2022./ CFP)