The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, has affirmed the qualifications of all deputies to the 10th NPC, making the way for the upcoming election of a new Chinese leadership.

Among all the 2,985 deputies were Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and nine members of the current Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, including Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

The deputies will elect new leaders and senior officials including the state president and premier at the end of the First Session of the 10th NPC, scheduled to begin on March 5 in Beijing.

The session also marked the beginning of a new five-year term of the 10th NPC.

On Friday, the 9th NPC Standing Committee reviewed and approved a report on examining the qualifications of the deputies before concluding its last bimonthly meeting.

Wang Weicheng, chairman of the Credentials Committee of the 9th NPC Standing Committee, said the deputies were elected in accordance with law, and therefore held valid qualifications.

The deputies were elected from 35 electoral units across China, including all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and from people with Taiwanese origin who are living in the Chinese mainland.

"The 10th NPC deputies had a wide representation of various social strata," Wang said.

Besides deputies of the majority Han Chinese, 415 deputies, or 13.91 percent of the total number of the deputies, belong to the other 55 ethnic minorities in the country.

Female deputies account for 20.24 percent of all deputies.

There are 2,178 deputies who are members of the Communist Party of China, 72.99 percent of the overall number.

Among the deputies, 551, or 18.46 percent of the total, are workers and farmers, and there are 631 intellectuals and 968 officials who account for 21.14 and 32.44 percent respectively, and 268 deputies come from the PLA.

The Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions have respectively contributed 36 and 12 deputies.

At Friday's meeting, the lawmakers also approved a draft agenda of the forthcoming First Session of the 10th NPC and a draft list of candidates for the session's secretary-general and members of the session's presidium.

They decided to submit the drafts to the preparatory meeting of the session.

The lawmakers also examined and adopted a work report of the NPC Standing Committee to be discussed during the session, and decided on a list of non-voting delegates attending the session.

In-service chairman of the NPC Standing Committee Li Peng, and Premier Zhu Rongji are among the 2,417 non-voting delegates.

The legislators also approved a list of new appointments by the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and two motions tabled by the State Council, China's cabinet, to urge the lawmakers to approve consular agreements between China and Nigeria, and between China and Russia.

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2003)