Thirteen deputies for Taiwan Province to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body, were elected on Friday in Beijing.
The deputies will serve a term of five years. They will attend the first plenary meeting of the 10th NPC which will be convened on March 5 in Beijing.
The annual meeting of the top legislature will discuss the most important political, economic and social issues of the nation.
This year's meeting will elect China's top State and government leaders.
The NPC deputies have the right to deliberate on the bills or proposals and reports that have been placed on the agenda of the NPC plenary meeting.
During the meeting, a delegation, or a joint group of 30 or more deputies, have the right to submit the bills or proposals within the scope of the NPC functions and powers. A group of at least one-fifth of all the NPC deputies have the right to put forward bills on amendments to the Constitution.
The NPC deputies also have the right to elect or remove major members of the central government and judicial bodies and make inquiries of them.
The 13 NPC deputies for Taiwan Province were selected from a total of 16 candidates by a group of 118 people drawn from the 36,000-plus citizens of Taiwanese origin in the country's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as relevant departments of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the central government and the Beijing-based units of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
The election was conducted through democratic consultation during a four-day meeting which concluded on Friday.
At the end of last year, 36 deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and 12 deputies of the Macao SAR to the 10th NPC were separately elected according to law.
The Hong Kong and Macao deputies will also participate in the management of State affairs according to law, but are not permitted to interfere in the work of their SARs, which enjoy a high degree of autonomy, under the Constitution and basic laws of the two SARs.
The election of deputies to the 10th NPC in other parts of China are still under way. The deputies will be elected by the people's congresses of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
It is expected to be completed before January 20, said NPC sources.
Since 1979 the election of NPC deputies in China has taken the form of competitive election.
(China Daily January 11, 2003)
