China needs to improve food and drug safety

The just closed annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are the most important political events in the year 2013, during which China has elected its new leadership.

People's Daily Online interviewed Mary Peng, an American from New York City, who first came to China in 1980 and has been living and working in China since 1991. She is the co-founder and CEO of the International Center for Veterinary Services, headquartered in Beijing. She shared her knowledge on the "two sessions" and concerns about current life in China:


People's Daily Online: What do you know about the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the two political annual sessions of China?

Mary Peng: I am generally familiar that these are the two highest level meetings of the country's leaders. The next generation of leaders that will manage China are officially confirmed at these meetings. Structural reorganizations of the nation's ministries are decided and new laws and policies are promulgated at the conclusion of these sessions that will have great impact on the lives of China's citizens as well as on China's global economic trade partners.

People's Daily Online: Are you interested in the sessions of NPC and CPPCC? Why?

Mary Peng: I am interested. The reason is that the leaders elected and the decisions made at these sessions will determine the path of China for the next 10 years and beyond. It signals the political and economic attitudes and priorities of the nation's leaders and the issues on which they will be most focused over this next decade.

People's Daily Online: The 2013 sessions of NPC and CPPCC is the first national political sessions after the leadership transition of the Communist Party of China during the 18th National Congress of the CPC. What proposal or topic may catch your attention?

Mary Peng: I was most interested in the reorganization of the central government in which the number of ministries under the State Council was reduced to 25 from 27. Most interesting to me was the elevation of the State Administration of Food & Drug to a general administration to improve food and drug safety.

The issue of food and drug safety is deeply important to the lives of people in China and overseas. Global trade means that products produced in the PRC are consumed and used both domestically and internationally so increasing supervisory oversight and enforcement of regulations in China will have far reaching positive impact.