The National People's Congress hopes Hong Kong can smoothly institute open elections in 2017, a spokesman of the top legislature said on Tuesday.

China's top legislature will improve the quality of its lawmaking by increasing public participation and operability of the laws and regulations, a spokesperson for the annual session of China's top legislative body said Tuesday.

There is zero tolerance of any corruption in legislative elections, and anyone who violates election laws will be severely punished, a spokeswoman for the top legislature said on Tuesday.

The national legislative session will promote thrift this year as part of a national campaign against extravagance, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

China hopes to get more understanding and co-op from the international community in fighting terrorism, a top legislature spokeswoman says.

China's national legislators Tuesday elected a presidium and set the agenda for the legislature's annual session, which is to open Wednesday.

The proposals at the two sessions have become the driving force behind China's reform, while turning such proposals into reality can be a long process.

China's top political adviser Yu Zhengsheng pledged on Monday to further efforts to comprehensively deepen the country's reforms.

Legislators have been urged to repeal the law that identifies sex with an underage prostitute as a crime, claiming that such crimes should be treated in the same way as the rape of a child.

The second session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's 12th National Committee, has got off to a quick start.

Deputies to the National People's Congress said more measures will be taken to tighten security in Yunnan province after the terrorist attack in Kunming, the provincial capital, on Saturday night.

A blacklist of people who refuse to honor court-ordered payments and who have failed to comply with rulings has met with great success and will be broadened this year, according to China's top court.

The upcoming parliamentary session in Beijing could offer a peek at how China plays out a delicate balancing act between honoring its promise to reform the country's outdated growth model and guiding the economy through headwinds.

China's legislators and political advisors have urged Washington to condemn Saturday's deadly attack in southwest China as terrorist activity after the US downplayed its severity.