Lawmakers take part in a meeting online in Xinzhou, North China's Shanxi province, April 24, 2020. (Photo:0350tv.cn)

With prevention and control of the spread of the novel coronavirus still the top priority for the country, convening the plenary sessions of county-level people's congresses and committees of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is meaningful for the ongoing fight against the virus.

It is an innovative practice that may possibly blaze a trail for the convening of the annual plenary sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

For prefecture- and county-level cities, the sessions of lawmakers and political advisers are usually convened in January or February. But the focus on prevention and control work and the need for social distancing in a bid to curb the virus' transmission chains meant they were deferred.

Now with the spread of the virus generally contained in the country, many cities are attempting to hold the annual two sessions online for the first time. Issues concerning local economic development and social progress need to be discussed, and the meetings cannot be delayed any further.

As President Xi Jinping recently stressed, lifting all rural residents out of poverty this year is a solemn promise made by the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and it must be fulfilled on time despite the novel coronavirus outbreak. To do that requires the innovation of work methods to achieve this year's economic and social development goals while keeping a tight grip on the virus.

Actually quite a number of news conferences and other meetings have already been held online in the past three months, so there are examples and experience to learn from.

It is important for local people's congresses and the local committees of the CPPCC to compare the online sessions with the traditional offline ones held in conference halls with a view to determining the advantages and disadvantages between the two ways of convening the two sessions.

They can also see how much money can be saved by having the two local sessions convened online. If a lot of money can be saved while most of the issues can be addressed, then perhaps it is necessary for local people's congresses and committees of the CPPCC to consider how to reduce the costs for in-person meetings. Convening such sessions online through the application of 5G is also a meaningful test for the new generation technology, whose use should be evaluated.

However, it is not how the sessions are convened that is important, but how well key issues concerning local economic development and social progress are addressed as a result of the sessions.