An aerial drone photo taken on Sept 16, 2025 shows local people sailing around an island while circling the lake by boat in Yanyuan county of Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Sichuan province. [Photo/Xinhua]

　　Three significant draft bills closely tied to national economic and social development and the public interest were submitted on Thursday for deliberation to the ongoing fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

　　The legislative items are a draft environmental code, a draft bill on promoting ethnic unity and progress, and another on national development planning.

　　Li Hongzhong, vice-chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, delivered explanatory remarks on the drafts on Thursday, stressing their critical roles in fostering development and advancing the rule of law.

　　While explaining the draft environmental code — China's second formal statutory code after the Civil Code adopted in 2020 — Li said its compilation embodies Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and is essential for advancing modernization characterized by harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

　　"Compiling the code is also a crucial step in upholding the comprehensive rule of law and promoting ecological civilization construction in the new era along the path of legal governance," he said.

　　Li added that the code adopts a people-centered approach, aiming to promote high-quality development, enhance people's well-being and improve the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics.

　　The draft code contains five sections with 1,242 articles, covering general provisions, pollution prevention and control, ecological conservation, and green and low-carbon development.