BEIJING (Reuter) - China's parliament chairman has said Beijing has no plans to expand its direct elections for local congress deputies beyond the county level and insisted his National People's Congress was not merely a rubber stamp.
In a lengthy interview published in the People's Daily on Friday, Qiao Shi also stressed the importance of developing a real legal system in China -- a cause he has espoused -- although he acknowledged that China still had a long way to go.
Qiao stressed that China had passed several laws and regulations in recent years to beef up its parliament and find ways to ensure the laws it passed were actually enforced.
Critics have described China's parliament as little more than a rubber stamp for decisions made by the leaders of the ruling Communist Party, although under Qiao's chairmanship a few members have dared to show their opposition to some measures.
However, Qiao used the interview to take an apparent swipe at a drive by President and Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin -- anointed heir to paramount leader Deng Xiaoping -- to bolster his image through a personal publicity campaign.
"No decisions should be made by an individual or by a small number of people," Qiao said when discussing the powers of the National People's Congress as well as local congresses.
"The collective performing of duties is an important principle followed by the people's congresses at all levels," said Qiao, one of the seven members of the standing committee of the Politburo, China's most powerful decision-making body.
China's communist leaders insist publicly that decisions are taken collectively and that state matters are handled by parliament and the State Council, or cabinet.
However, diplomats say the party -- and its individual leaders -- are the final arbiters of power, with the parliament allowed to exist as little more than window-dressing to try to persuade China's people that they too have a say in the decision-making process.
In terms of the structure and formation of China's central and regional parliaments, Qiao said the use of direct elections had been expanded since 1979, shortly after Deng Xiaoping consolidated power, to the county level from the lowest township level.
"Since 1995, elections of deputies to the people's congresses at township level have been held," he said.
"We have discovered that the people are very enthusiastic about these elections, and that more than 90 percent of the voters took part in the elections," he said.
However, Qiao dashed any expectations that the system of direct elections of deputies for congresses would be expanded soon above the county level.
"China has a vast territory and a large population and its economic and cultural development level is not high," Qiao said.
"Therefore, it conforms with our country's special conditions to elect deputies to the people's congresses directly only at the county and township levels for the present," he said.
Figures compiled by parliament show that in the last elections for township and county congresses, a total of 3.64 million delegates were chosen, many of them in contests where the number of candidates exceeded the number of seats.
Qiao acknowledged the limits to parliament's power, saying that many regional officials, who in China can run their district as virtual fiefdoms, ignore the law.
"There have even been cases in which law enforcement officials violate laws and some people override laws with their own opinions and power," Qiao said. "We are now taking measures to tackle those problems." He did not specify those measures.