A 175-member presidium for the Fifth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC), or China's top legislature, was formed at a preparatory meeting Sunday morning, when the agendas of the session, scheduled to open on Monday, were also adopted.

Chen Liangyu was not included in the presidium. Previously, Chen was removed from his post of secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC) and suspended from his posts of member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and member of the CPC Central Committee, due to grave discipline violations.
 
Currently, his post of NPC deputy has not been terminated.

Gan Yisheng, vice secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said at a press conference about two weeks ago that the investigation in Chen's case "is going smoothly" and the CCDI's results will be publicized at an appropriate time.

Altogether 2,696 NPC deputies attended the preparatory meeting, presided over by Chairman Wu Bangguo of the Tenth NPC Standing Committee.

During the upcoming annual session, NPC deputies will hear and deliberate reports on the work of the government, the NPC Standing Committee, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Lawmakers will examine and approve reports on the implementation of the national economic and social development plan for 2006 and the national economic and social development program for 2007, review reports on the implementation of central and local budgets for 2006 and on draft central and local budgets for 2007 and approve the report on implementation of the central budget for 2006 and central budgets for 2007.

Lawmakers will also deliberate draft property rights law and draft corporate income tax law.

Other agendas of the full session include discussing the draft decision on the number of deputies electable to the Eleventh NPC and matters related to the election and two draft provisions on the election of deputies to the Eleventh NPC from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Macao SAR, respectively.

A total of 2,978 NPC deputies are expected to attend the annual session, 2,943 of whom had registered by Sunday.

The presidium also held its first meeting on Sunday.

(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2007)