The second plenary session of the Central Conference on the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Work was held in Beijing on September 20, 2019. At the session, which was held to mark the 70th founding anniversary of CPPCC, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, gave an important speech in which he stressed upholding the CPPCC system and improving the CPPCC work of political consultation, democratic oversight, and participation in and deliberation of state affairs.

Recently, Professor Zhai Guoqiang, a research fellow at CASS Law Institute, was recently interviewed by the newspaper Guangming Daily on the significance of President Xi Jinping’s speech.  In the interview, Professor Zhai pointed out that the important speech given by Party Secretary-General Xi Jinping indicated the direction of future development of the CPPCC system: CPPCC is an important component of the state governance system in China. To give full play to the important role of CPPCC in the state governance system, China must further improve the systems and mechanisms of political consultation and adopt legal provisions on the scope of participation, the principles of consultation, the basic procedures, and method of communication of CPPCC.