The property law took a record 7 years of debating through out of the country. When the labor law was debated, the NPC received 200 000 suggestions, 65% came from the grassroots level.

我還記得當外國記者第一次出現在全國人大的會場時，人大代表們是多么的驚訝。現在，采訪全國人大會議的外國記者越來越多，今年達到了800人。記者們甚至還可以參加一些會議的討論并提問。

I remember the first time international journalists appeared during the National People’s Congress, the delegates were quite surprised. Now they come in bigger number, 800 came this year, and they even sit in some of the meetings and asked questions.

正如胡錦濤主席在17大報告中所提出，“讓權力在陽光下運行”，民主建設的核心是民主決策。黨和政府建立健全了民主決策機制，重大決策出臺之前均廣泛征求各方意見。

As President Hu Jintao said at the 17th Party Congress: power should operate under the sunshine. At the center of the democratic reform is the decision making process. Both the Party and the Government have set up the structure with which, major decisions are made only after full consultations.

提高人事透明度也是各項改革措施的焦點之一。我有一次在北京拜訪科技部，看到門廳里貼著關于人事任命的公示，并歡迎大家提意見。在中國，對所有級別的重要任命都進行這樣的公示。

Transparency in the personnel system has also been a focus of constant reform measures. I once visited the Ministry of Science and saw at the entrance hall some big posters about who is going to be promoted and opinions are invited. This is done at all levels and for all important posts.

10年前，中國建立了農村基層選舉制度，到2004年底，64,000個村委會通過直接選舉產生，85%的村莊成立了村民會議或村民代表會議制度。

Election was introduced at rural level 10 years ago. 64,000 village committees were set up as of the end of 2004, all of them being directly elected. 85% of the villages have set up mechanism for important decisions.

當然，我并不是說中國的民主制度十全十美。胡錦濤主席在中國共產黨十七大報告中60多次提到“民主”二字，恰恰表明作為黨的總書記他對這個問題的重視和在黨和政府內加強民主建設的決心。中國改革之路還在途中，還在不斷的變革之中。

However, I am not saying that China has the perfect democratic system. The reason that the President used the term democracy about 60 time, precisely because, as the General Secretary of the Party, he wanted to emphasis the importance and was calling for greater effort to develop democracy in the Party and the government. We are half way through the reform program and everything is still in a transitional process.

正如在北京每年都可以看到新建筑一樣，在中國每年在政治上也都有新的發展變化，總的方向是更加公開、更加透明、更加負責任。

Just like you can see new building in Beijing every year, you will also see new political development in China every year. The direction is towards greater openness, transparency and accountability.

在國際上，中國希望發揮鼓勵對話與合作的作用，不將自己的意志強加于人或干涉別國內政。