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Lobbyists target legislators

(WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Updated: 2006-03-09 10:21

China's legislature is taking on a new role: a target for interest groups
to lobby.

With nearly 3,000 delegates gathered in the capital until next week for
the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, some
representatives of different interest groups have also flocked to
Beijing. They have been seeking to win the ears of delegates on the
sidelines of the 10-day meeting on issues from tax policy to
antidiscrimination measures for hepatitis B carriers.

Ethnic minority delegates, dressed up in traditional costumes, arrive at
the Great Hall of the People to attend the opening of the National
People's Congress (NPC) in China's capital of Beijing March 5, 2006. The
annual gathering of top Chinese lawmakers started Sunday morning and will
close on March 14, 2006. [Xinhua]
Some groups and companies had started seeking out NPC delegates a few
years ago. But this year, the lobbying has picked up markedly, delegates
say.

Delegates -- who meet once a year to discuss and approve the premier's
work report, the state budget and any bills that have been teed up -- are
also becoming more outspoken in representing their constituencies. The
trend underscores the rise of various interest groups in China amid a
pluralization of society and the growth of a middle class -- as well as
the lack of other effective channels for people to push their causes.

Still, analysts and others are welcoming the changes as a step towards a
more transparent legal system and more influential legislature. Such a
development is important at a time when market changes breed corruption
and other abuses of power, sparking growing unrest and discontent among
an increasingly vocal population.

"These proposals reflect public opinion, which will make the central
government pay more attention while drafting legislation," says Cai
Dingjian, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law
and a former NPC official. "This is the basic function that NPC delegates
should play."

The NPC's bill-reviewing group declined to comment on lobbying
activities. According to NPC statistics, the number of bills proposed by
delegates and accepted by the congress for review has risen steadily in
recent years, more than tripling to 991 last year from 2001.

Under China's legislative system, the NPC's standing committee conveys
any proposed bills to relevant ministries, which then decide whether to
turn them into formal legislation to be approved by the NPC.

Qi Dong, a deputy secretary general of the China Market Association, a
semiofficial research organization that also represents Chinese peddlers
and their markets, is hoping the NPC will take up his cause to better
protect private vendors.

After hearing complaints from peddlers around the country about being
overcharged for rent and overtaxed, he persuaded an NPC delegate from his
province of Zhejiang -- home to many private businessmen -- to submit his
draft of a proposed "Law of Commodity Exchange Markets" at this year's
meeting.

Mr. Qi says he got to know the delegate, Zhou Xiaoguang, a private
jewelry-company owner, after attending several public hearings she held
to learn about her constituents' beefs.

Beijing-based lawyer Xiao Taifu's proposed bill to unify tax rates for
domestic and foreign-invested companies in China is also being submitted
to the NPC. Chinese policy makers have said they are moving towards
reunification of the tax system, which currently favors foreign companies
over domestic ones. But the policy change has been delayed by two years,
partly due to opposition from foreign firms.

"Gaining public support is the first step [in making] legislation,
because every law and regulation should reflect public opinion. We are
doing this to help the government give up its worries and make up its
mind," says Mr. Xiao, adding that he persuaded a delegate from Sichuan
province to take up his cause. Mr. Xiao says he isn't acting on behalf of
any companies.

Lu Jun, Web master of an Internet site for hepatitis B carriers, traveled
to Beijing recently to seek support for carriers from legislators and
members of another elected body, the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference, which is also now convening in Beijing.

Mr. Lu, from Henan province, says at least two NPC delegates and the
Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party, a minority party
representing medical professionals in the CPPCC, have agreed to submit
his proposal to protect carriers' rights at their respective meetings,
after he presented examples of discrimination against carriers.

China's 120 million carriers of the contagious liver disease have faced
widespread discrimination, with some companies refusing to hire carriers
and universities forcing them to drop out. "We are a social vulnerable
group, and we need a specialized law to protect us," Mr. Lu says.

Delegates themselves, meanwhile, have become more receptive to taking on
various causes -- and more aggressive in speaking up for their
constituencies, analysts say.

One reason is their higher education level. In the past, the NPC
representatives -- elected by provincial people's congress delegates from
a restricted field of candidates -- mostly were model workers, heroic
soldiers and other such people. In the early 1990s, only 56% of the
delegates had a college education. In the current congress, elected in
2002, 92.5% did.

Beijing has also sought to beef up the NPC's role as a legislative body.
Last year, the NPC asked delegates to submit any bill proposals in the
form of formal legislation. Many delegates have sought the help of
lawyers to draft bills.

NPC delegates assume their legislative roles only for a few days each
year and don't have full-time staff. They also tend to keep their
full-time jobs, whether in the state or private sectors. While this
sometimes leads to conflicts of interest, it also helps them understand
the needs of their constituents, analysts say.

Take Han Deyun, a delegate from the southwestern city of Chongqing and a
lawyer by trade. He has submitted a draft amendment to the National
Compensation Law, to make it easier for lawyers to help clients gain
compensation for claims on wrongful imprisonment, detention and
execution, and to raise compensation amounts. Many other lawyers favor
such changes.

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