英语文摘:China's top legislature concludes standing committee session

BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, concluded its 33rd session Monday in Beijing.

At the closing meeting, lawmakers voted to adopt the decision on the ranks for active-duty soldiers of the People's Liberation Army, and the decision to remove Li Jiheng from the post of the minister of civil affairs and appoint Tang Dengjie as the new minister.

President Xi Jinping signed two presidential orders to promulgate the above decisions.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the closing meeting.

Lawmakers also voted to adopt a decision to establish the Chengdu-Chongqing financial court.

Lawmakers approved in principle the work report of the NPC Standing Committee and entrusted Li Zhanshu to deliver the report to the fifth annual session of the 13th NPC on behalf of the NPC Standing Committee.

Lawmakers also approved a report on deputy qualifications and personnel-related bills.

The meeting approved the draft agenda for the NPC annual session to be opened on March 5 and the draft name list of the session's presidium and secretary-general, and decided to submit the drafts to the preparatory meeting of NPC session for deliberation.

A name list of members invited to sit in on the NPC session as non-voting participants was also passed at the meeting.

Addressing the closing meeting after the vote, Li Zhanshu called for well-thought and meticulous efforts in preparing for the NPC annual session to greet the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

For the NPC session, Li called for thoroughly promoting whole-process people's democracy and creating an atmosphere in which people can freely express themselves and talk pragmatically to reflect their voices and demands.

Li also chaired a meeting of the Council of Chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee before the closing meeting and presided over a lecture for lawmakers after the meeting.