China's ruling Communist Party has made it clear that it wants to use this year's gatherings to showcase its ability to fend off the worst impacts of the downturn, which has already thrown millions of Chinese out of work.

Both sessions of parliament are set to focus on how to use a four trillion yuan (585 billion dollar) government stimulus package announced last year, and aimed at boosting economic growth and maintaining social stability, officials said.

"The opinion of the delegates is that this four trillion should be spent efficiently and benefit the people," the spokesman for China's parliamentary consultative body, Zhao Qizheng, told journalists.

"It should stimulate domestic consumption and it should certainly place money in the hands of the people... it should also create employment and reduce the urban-rural wealth gap."

The roughly 2,300 members of the consultative body are due to begin their nine-day annual session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon.

Then, on Thursday, the National People's Congress -- China's rubber-stamp parliament -- will open to endorse the decisions of the Communist Party elite.

This year, the congress is expected to approve laws aimed at dramatically improving the social safety net for China's least well-off.

The Social Security Law promises universal access to basic medical, workplace injury and unemployment insurance, as well as retirement pensions -- benefits stripped from millions amid China's 30-year economic transformation.

This has become an even greater worry for China's leaders amid the economic slowdown, as rising unemployment fuels fears of further social unrest in a country that sees tens of thousands of protests each year even in the best of times.

Adding to the sense of unease are the tensions surrounding China's 58-year rule of Tibet, as an ultra-sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule falls on March 10 during the parliament session.

Protests have already erupted in Tibetan populated areas of China recently, including one monk who last week set himself alight to protest against Chinese repression.

Tibetan exiles and activist groups have reported an enormous security clampdown in Tibet and western regions of China with Tibetan populations.

During the parliamentary session last year, deadly unrest broke out in Tibetan areas following four days of peaceful protests to mark the 49th anniversary of the uprising.

In Beijing, an increased police presence was evident Tuesday, with security vans patrolling the vast expanse of Tiananmen Square next to the Great Hall of the People.

Surveillance of dissidents, which was stepped up for the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month, was also expected to be tightened, political activists said.

"The government is more concerned with social stability in 2009 because there are a lot of anniversaries of political incidents that were handled badly and have not been adequately addressed," social critic Jiang Qisheng told AFP.

Aside from the 1959 Tibetan uprising, other sensitive anniversaries include the quelling of the Tiananmen democracy protests 20 years ago in June 1989 and 10 years since a crackdown on the Falungong spiritual group, he said.

"Secondly, the economic situation is very serious, a lot of people have been laid off, things are very difficult," Jiang said.

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