China's top legislature concluded its five-day bimonthly session on Friday, after approving the amended Postal Law and rules of procedure which was aimed at improving efficiency of the lawmaking body.
President Hu Jintao signed decrees to publish the two amended laws. The amended laws must be published before they take effect.
The concluding meeting was presided over by Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC).
Wu said the amended rules of procedure standardized the top legislature's standing orders and agenda and increased efficiency so as to ensure that the NPC Standing Committee better perform its duties.
The amended postal law has new stipulations including an article forbidding all organizations or individuals from opening, hiding, damaging or discarding others' letters, instead of just preventing postal workers from doing so.
Wu said the amended law made clear postal service categories and charging mechanism, strengthened regulation over postal express delivery services and improved telecommunication security and protection of subscribers' rights and interests.
The session also reviewed reports on air pollution, rural social security and vocational education.
Wu said "the country's rural social security concerns immediate interest of hundreds of millions of farmers and has been plagued by unbalanced regional development, inadequate funding, insufficient coverage and poor grassroots management."
He urged increased funding for the rural social security network,solutions to the account-transfer problems for migrant workers and farmers without lands as early as possible (to ensure their account go with them no matter where they work), and the gradual increase of the rural security coverage
The top legislature said "vocational education is a strategic focus of China's educational field and important foundation of the economic and social development."
"But it's still a weak point of the country's educational sector," said Wu, who urged governments to combine vocational education with human resource development, employment, economic development and improvement of people's livelihood.
Wu asked to phase-in free vocational secondary education for all and improve school conditions for vocational education.
On the cabinet report of air pollution, Wu said China's air pollution was fundamentally caused by "unsustained economic development and unreasonable industrial structure."
He called for developing clean energy, promoting energy-saving products, strictly enforcing environmental laws and controlling pollution sources.
Relevant NPC committees had conducted field researches and exchanged views with ministries concerned, Wu said.
The top legislature also ratified two treaties on the transfer of convicted criminals with the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Australia, and one with Venezuela on judicial assistance.
A resolution adopted by members of the NPC Standing Committee accepted the resignation of NPC deputy Wu Yizhen, former secretary of the Chengbu Miao Autonomous County Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) of central China's Hunan Province.
The Credentials Committee of the NPC Standing Committee examined the qualification of all deputies to the Eleventh NPC. The total number now stands at 2,984, according to an announcement of the NPC Standing Committee.
(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2009)
