BEIJING: China's top legislature on Friday (Nov 6) appointed 12 former provincial-level party chiefs and governors to the leadership ranks of the country's parliament and confirmed the termination of nine deputies' status as lawmakers, official records showed.
The former top official of Tibet, Wang Junzheng, former mayor of financial hub Shanghai, Gong Zheng, and former party secretary of the eastern province of Anhui, Liang Yanshun, along with nine others, were named to senior roles in the parliament.
Leadership posts in the country's largely rubber-stamp parliament often provide a transitional posting for senior officials moved out of frontline political roles ahead of formal retirement.
The 12 officials were replaced in a series of regional reshuffles in recent weeks, often by younger officials, ahead of a broader ruling Communist Party top reshuffle next year.
Nine deputies' lawmaker status was formally terminated on Friday, after some resigned and others were stripped of their seats.
Among them were four senior military and armed police officers whose resignations from the legislature were accepted.
PLA Navy Rear Admiral Zhang Gong, who served as commander of Guangdong's provincial military command, and PLA Major General Guo Jianjun, who served as political commissar of Ningxia's regional military command, were among those who resigned.
The reasons for their resignations from the National People's Congress were not immediately clear
Earlier in the year, the top legislature stripped a number of other senior military officers and people with defence sector ties of their deputy status.
Scores of top generals and senior officers have been purged in a sweeping anti-graft and disciplinary drive in the country's military. - Reuters
