Chinese President Hu Jintao was named the Honorary President of the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC).

The decision was announced after the first council of the eighth national conference of the RCSC in Beijing Friday in accordance with the RCSC charter.

This year is the centennial anniversary of the establishment of the RCSC.

Ismail Amat, Han Qide, Fu Tieshan and He Luli, vice chairs of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), and Huang Mengfu and Zhang Huaixi, vice chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, were named Honorary Vice Presidents.

The Red Cross, an international humanitarian body with a history of more than 140 years, plays an important role in upholding humanitarianism and providing humanitarian assistance during wars, accidents and natural disasters, according to the Geneva Convention and the Charter of the International Red Cross.

From the sixth national conference of the RCSC in 1994 to the eighth national conference in 2004, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin acted as the RCSC Honorary President. Jiang made "a great contribution to progress of RCSC," an official at the conference said.

State leaders in many countries worldwide act as the honorary presidents of the Red Cross. Hu's holding of the post reflects the support of the state to the Red Cross' cause and is conducive to the healthy development of the RCSC as well as the lofty cause of world peace and development, sources said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2004)