China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), closed its nine-and-half-day annual session Monday morning after it adopted a number of work reports and ratified the Anti-Secession Law.
The top legislature adopted the reports on the government work, economic and social development, the central and local budgets, and the work of the NPC Standing Committee and of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
NPC deputies during the session approved the resignation of Jiang Zemin from the chairmanship of the state Central Military Commission and elected Hu Jintao to succeed.
Following Hu's nomination, the top legislature agreed to add four new members to the state Central Military Commission. The top military commission now has 11 members, the highest number since the beginning of 1990s.
Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said in his closing speech that deputies to the top legislature "highly evaluated Jiang Zemin's outstanding contributions to the Communist Party of China (CPC), the state and the army, as well as the Chinese people."
Deputies also spoke highly of Hu's succession as chairman of the state Central Military Commission, which is an natural outcome as he already took the posts of general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, president of China and chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission.
"Comrade Hu Jintao's succession as chairman of the state Central Military Commission commends popular support and is conducive to upholding the principle of the Party's absolute leadership over the military, and to the strengthening of the military's revolutionization, modernization and regularization process," he said.
Deputies unanimously held that China, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as general secretary, had scored great achievements over the past year in its reform, opening and modernization drive.
The top legislature adopted the Anti-Secession Law 2,896 to nil, setting a legal framework to prevent Taiwan from being seceded from China and promote peaceful national reunification.
Wu Bangguo said the high support rate of NPC deputies to the law gave full expressions to the consistent stance of the Chinese mainland for peaceful reunification with its greatest sincerity and utmost efforts.
It also demonstrated the "common will and strong resolve" of the entire Chinese people to safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity and never to allow the "Taiwan independence" forces to secede Taiwan from China under any name or by any means.
"The promulgation and implementation of the law will have major practical and far-reaching historical impact on developing cross-Strait relations, peaceful reunification of the motherland, and opposing and checking Taiwan's secession from China by secessionists in the name of 'Taiwan independence'," Wu said.
Wu said it would also be crucial to maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, and to safeguarding China's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation.
The NPC has 2,988 deputies and convenes an annual session usually in March. The NPC Standing Committee serves as the executive body when top legislature is not in session.
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2005)
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