Xi Jinping looks to improve, strengthen China’s public complaint management system

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday met with some of the attendees of a national meeting on work related to handling people’s complaints.

President Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, offered warm congratulations to the exemplary individuals and groups honored at the meeting and extended sincere greetings to officials and people working in the system for addressing public complaints.

Li Keqiang, Wang Huning and Han Zheng, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, were also present.

Xi had cordial exchanges and posed for a photo with the attendees at the Great Hall of the People.

Addressing the national meeting, which was held from Wednesday to Thursday, Guo Shengkun, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, stressed thoroughly studying and implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping’s instructions on strengthening and improving work related to addressing public complaints and called for ushering in a new chapter in work related to handling people’s complaints.

The two-day conference concluded on Thursday in Beijing.

Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Wang Huning and Han Zheng pose for a photo with some of the attendees of a national meeting on work related to handling people’s complaints at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the capital of China, May 25, 2022. /Xinhua

China’s complaint handling system, or xinfang, which means complaint letters and visits, dates back to the early 1950s and has played a supporting role in public supervision over Party and state organs.

The term “complaint letters and visits” refers to the mechanism through which a citizen, legal person or organization, by way of letter, e-mail, telephone or visit, etc., reports facts, submits proposals or opinions, or files a complaint to the people’s governments at various levels to be dealt with by the relevant administrative organs according to law.

In April, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued a regulation for handling public complaint letters and visits, pledging to improve the quality and efficiency of the process.

The regulation highlighted the significance of work related to handling public complaints, saying that public complaints provide an important window through which an understanding of society and the people’s opinions can be obtained.

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