China vows to better handle petition issue

China's top leaders on Friday met representatives for a nationwide conference on the work of handling people's petitions, vowing to safeguard people's rights and interests and strengthen ties between the authorities and the people.

President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice President Xi Jinping and Vice Premier Li Keqiang met the representatives before the conference, extending their greetings to all the government staff handling the people's letters and calls.

Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and secretary of the Political Science and Law Committee of the CPC Central Committee, also met representatives and delivered a speech at the conference.

The petitioning, also known as letters and calls, is the administrative system for hearing complaints and grievances from Chinese citizens.

The bureaus of letters and calls at all levels are commissioned to receive letters, calls, and visits from individuals or groups, and then channel the issues to respective departments, and monitor the progress of settlements.

Zhou said significant achievements have been made in handling people's letters and calls in recent years and all departments concerned have made great contributions to resolving social conflicts, safeguarding the people's rights and interests, as well as promoting social harmony and stability.

He stressed that at present and in the future, the work of handling people's petitions should focus on safeguarding people's legitimate rights and interests, reflecting on public opinion and promoting social harmony.

To this end, the authorities should improve the mechanisms of the petitioning work, maintain the effective order, and establish a comprehensive system to prevent and reduce the number of petitions, as well as strengthen the standardization and legalization, so to better act as the link between the authorities and the general public, Zhou added.

Zhou urged officials to settle prominent issues, implement all policies preferential to the people's livelihoods. Officials handling petitions should also go to the grassroots to solve issues from the roots, he said.

Hundreds of groups and individuals were honored on the two-day conference for their contributions to the work of handling petitions.