Zhang Dejiang: "Power should not be aloof from public supervision"

He has repeatedly called on the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate to consciously accept supervision and improve the mechanism of reporting their work to the NPC and its Standing Committee and informing them of major issues.

Moreover, he has called for efforts to improve the supervisory system by setting up a series of power restraint and supervisory mechanisms featuring intra-Party and public supervision as well as supporting the people's congresses and political advisory bodies to carry out their supervisory power independently in accordance with the law.

All these measures aim to put the power bestowed by the country's 1.3 billion people under better supervision and restraint.

Zhang also believes that the deputies to people's congresses, as the general public's spokespersons, should earnestly fulfill their duty and be models of law abidance.

"Efforts must be made to safeguard the deputies' right to know and expand channels for them to get access to information and to understand government affairs," he said.

SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY

"I'll not leave until the water in the Nenjiang River retreats to a safe level," said Zhang as he was directing flood control and relief work in northeast China's Jilin Province in 1998.

The summer floods of 1998, the worst up to that time since 1954 on the Yangtze River in central China and the most devastating flood ever in northeast China, shocked the government and the people at the time.

People still remember the image of Zhang boarding a motorboat to visit flood-stricken residents in a village in Zhenlai County, Jilin, when he was the province's Party secretary.

When major disasters occurred, Zhang, as Party chief of provincial-level regions, would set out for a disaster site immediately to oversee rescue operations.

Zhang also showed his concern for the people by attending to issues concerning their livelihood, such as employment and social security, during the last five years when he served as vice premier of the State Council, where he was in charge of employment, social security and other important sectors.