STORY: Foreign observers share insights on China's grassroots democracy
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 15, 2025
DATELINE: Jan. 17, 2025
LENGTH: 0:01:55
LOCATION: SHANGHAI, China
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Shanghai and the third session of the 16th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ALI MOHAMMADI, Consul General of Iran in Shanghai
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): AUGUSTO PESTANA, Consul General of Brazil in Shanghai
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): LISA MARIE AZZOPARDI, Consul General of Malta in Shanghai

STORYLINE:

At the opening meeting of the third session of the 16th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on Wednesday, some foreign diplomats were invited to attend the meeting as observers.

After listening to the 2025 Shanghai government work report, they've shared insights on China's grassroots democracy, hoping to learn from its experience while expressing confidence in the Chinese economy.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ALI MOHAMMADI, Consul General of Iran in Shanghai
"I suppose it's very nice, and that the people can engage themselves in the progress of the city and hear about the progress from authorities in the city."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): AUGUSTO PESTANA, Consul General of Brazil in Shanghai
"(It's) a very interesting opportunity. (It's) very nice of China to offer this opportunity for the consular corps to attend this meeting. And it's a very interesting model of consultative democracy and popular representation. So it's very interesting to learn from the Chinese experience.
China is our major trading partner and Shanghai is an economic hub. Lots of trade fairs are happening here.
So we look forward to seeing what news the Chinese authorities will provide in terms of business environment and making sure that business partnership, economic partnership in trade and investments can go forward."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): LISA MARIE AZZOPARDI, Consul General of Malta in Shanghai
"It is definitely interesting to see the feeding process of all the different constituent parts of the Shanghai municipal government and the congress and how they feed into the decision-making process.
It is also very important to see that there is a strong focus on building the centers of excellence for which Shanghai is well known for, like the finance, like the high tech and biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and all the five centers that the government is working on. I feel this is very positive for the future of Shanghai as a city and for the municipality in the future."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Shanghai, China.
(XHTV)