Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu called for the respect and protection of the rights of the handicapped and substantial efforts to resolve their difficulties.

Hui, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks while presiding over a plenary conference of the State Council Coordination Committee for the Work of the Disabled People. Hui is also director of the State Council committee.

China made remarkable achievements in helping the handicapped in 2004, Hui said. At the Athens Olympics for the Handicapped, the Chinese delegation ranked first, both in the number of gold medals and total medals.

However, Hui acknowledged that the handicapped people in China continue to face many difficulties in their work and life, and he urged the entire society to help them.

At the meeting, the participants discussed and developed plans on handicapped issues and heard a report on the second national survey on the handicapped.

China is preparing to host the 2008 Olympics of the Handicapped in Beijing and the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai.

According to Deng Pufang, chairman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, who also addressed the conference, China has more than 60 million handicapped people, accounting for about 5 percent of the country's total population of 1.3 billion.

Currently, more than 4 million handicapped people live in cities and more than 16.2 million handicapped villagers have found a job.

(Xinhua News Agency April 2, 2005)