A Chinese personnel official on Thursday reiterated opposition to discrimination, especially against Hepatitis B carriers, in the upcoming civil servant test.

Vice Minister of Personnel Yang Shiqiu reassured an applicant of the national civil servant examination in December that "Hepatitis B carriers who are ruled out after medical examination to be Hepatitis B patients would be considered eligible candidates."

The Chinese government issued a week ago rules to ensure fair, transparent enrollment of civil servants. The rules ban employers of civil servants from setting "requirements that are unrelated to the nature of posts".

In 2005, the government issued a health standard that included Hepatitis B carriers among eligible candidates for the civil service and dropped out weight and height requirements.

The standard said Hepatitis B carriers were eligible to work for the government so long as the infection did not progress to the disease stage.

Despite this, Chinese job hunters, including those seeking government posts, have long complained of discrimination on the grounds of sex, age, religion, race or physical disability.

Since China began organizing civil servant recruitment examinations in 1994, civil service has become one of the most popular professions of the country's job seekers because it offers a stable income, high social status and good welfare insurance.

In 2007, more than 530,000 applicants competed for 12,700 government jobs -- 42 people competing for each job on average.

This year, more than 800,000 applicants will sit for the civil service examination in December, according to a statement on the ministry's website.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2007)