A 181-member presidium and secretary-general for
the
first session of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC)
were elected at a preparatory meeting held in Beijing Tuesday.
Chaired by Li Peng, chairman of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee,
the meeting, with an attendance of 2,855 deputies, also adopted the
agenda that will include the election of a new state
leadership.
The presidium is composed of leaders of the Communist Party of
China (CPC) and the state, leaders of non-Communist parties and the
All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, personages without
party affiliation, leaders of government agencies and people's
organizations, leaders of all the 35 delegations to the NPC
session, including those from Hong Kong and Macao and the Chinese
People's Liberation Army, deputies representing sciences,
education, literature and art, sports, public health and religions
and other walks of life as well as overseas Chinese and big
minority nationalities.
Wang Zhaoguo was elected secretary-general for the new NPC
session.
Vice-premier Wu Bangguo was elected one of the executive chairmen
of the presidium of the First Session of the 10th National People's
Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, at the first meeting of
the presidium Tuesday morning.
The other nine executive chairmen elected at the meeting are Zeng
Qinghong, Wang Zhaoguo, Li Tieying, Ismail Amet, He Luli, Ding
Shisun, Cheng Siwei, Xu Jialu, and Jiang Zhenghua.
Addressing the meeting, Li Peng described the current NPC session
as a "major event following the 16th CPC National Congress in
November 2002" as it would effectuate a state leadership change
that is of vital importance to building a country ruled by law,
building a well-off society in every aspect of life and creating
anew situation in building socialism with Chinese
characteristics.
The agenda adopted for the current NPC Session have 18 items. They
include:
To
hear and examine the government work report;
To
hear and examine a report on the implementation of the 2002
national economic and social development plan and a draft plan for
2003 national economic and social development;
To
adopt the report on the implementation of the 2002 national
economic and social development plan and the plan for 2003 national
economic and social development;
To
hear and examine a report on the implementation of the 2002 central
and local budget and the draft budget for 2003;
To
adopt the report on the implementation of the 2002 central and
local budget and the central and local budget for 2003;
To
examine a plan by the State Council for restructuring government
agencies;
To
hear and examine a work report by the NPC Standing Committee;
To
hear and examine work reports by the Supreme People's Court and the
Supreme People's Procuratorate;
To
examine a draft decision on setting up of specialized committees of
the Tenth NPC;
To
examine and adopt draft rules on election and appointment for the
Tenth NPC First Session;
To
elect chairman, vice-chairmen, secretary-general and members of the
Tenth NPC Standing Committee;
To
elect President and Vice-President of the People's Republic of
China (PRC);
To
decide on candidates for the premiership of the State Council and
for the posts of vice-premiers, state councilors, ministers,
governor of the People's Bank of China, auditor-general, and
secretary-general of the State Council;
To
elect chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC;
To
decide on candidates for the posts of vice-chairmen and members of
the Central Military Commission of the PRC;
To
elect president of the Supreme People's Court and
procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate;
To
approve candidates for the posts of chairmen, vice-chairmen and
members of all specialized committees of the Tenth NPC.
The first session of the 10th National People's Congress is
scheduled to last for thirteen and a half days.
(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2003)