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China's youngest provincial Communist Party chief Sun Zhengcai has for the first time become a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, after the NPC Standing Committee approved his appointment last Friday.
Born in 1963 and holding a doctorate in agriculture, Sun was Agriculture Minister and non-voting participant in the annual parliamentary session until last November, when he was appointed secretary of the provincial committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Jilin, a major agricultural province in northeast China.
He is one of a group of up and coming participants at the third session of the 11th NPC, which will open on March 5.
After a string of provincial-level leadership reshuffles since late last year, four others have also become new NPC deputies. They were approved by the NPC Standing Committee last week.
They are Sun Chunlan, Party chief of southeast Fujian Province and the only female provincial Party chief in the country; Luo Huining, Party chief of northwest Qinghai Province; Wang Rulin, Governor of Jilin Province; and Padma Choling, chairman of the regional government of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Some older deputies have taken up new positions: Hu Chunhua, former Governor of Hebei Province, has become Party chief of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; Wang Min, former Party chief of Jilin, is now Party chief of Liaoning Province; and Lu Zhangong, former Party chief of Fujian, has been appointed Party chief of Henan Province.
The faces are expected to draw wide public attention during the legislative session, as they have vowed to improve local people's livelihoods and some have worked or are working in China's vast ethnic regions.
"China is in the midst of big changes and reforms. It is the officials' duty to take care of the people," said Zhuang Fuling, professor at Beijing-based Renmin University of China.
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS
Sun Zhengcai pledged to safeguard and improve people's livelihoods at the third plenum of the 11th Jilin provincial legislature in late January, when he was elected chairman of the Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee.
"All the people should benefit from the fruits of reform and development in Jilin," Sun said.
Jilin Governor Wang Rulin made it clear in his 2010 government work report that development and people's livelihoods were the primary goals.
"Some 70 percent of new financial resources must be used to improve people's livelihoods. [The government] should deal with social affairs that benefit the people in 10 aspects," Wang said in the report.
Those aspects included creating jobs, boosting social security, improving compulsory education conditions, enhancing grassroots medical care, and strengthening poverty alleviation.
Inner Mongolia Party chief Hu Chunhua also put forward 10 similar goals to serve the people and promised more than 51 billion yuan (7.5 billion U.S. dollars) in construction investment, according to media reports.
Hu also increased the target for per capita disposable income growth for urban residents and farmers from 9.8 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, last year to 11 percent and 10 percent this year.
"The target should be put at the highest possible level. With joint efforts, we hope it can be achieved and we are happy to face public scrutiny," Hu was quoted as saying.
As many of these provincial heavyweights born in the 1950s or 1960s have grassroots work experience, observers believe they understand well the lives of common people and will speak for them during the session.
HOPES FOR ETHNIC REGIONS
Tibet's new government chairman, Padma Choling, pledged to make social stability and national unity the priority of his administration after the regional legislature unanimously elected him in mid January.
"Stability is of overwhelming importance," he said, stressing the regional government's belief in bolstering economic development and improving people's living standards.
Born in 1951 in Qamdo Prefecture, Padma Choling served in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) from 1969 to 1986 before becoming an official in the regional government.
Former government chairman Qiangba Puncog said Tibet would again aim for 12-percent GDP growth this year and increase spending on sectors related to living standards.
The regional government's work report said the net per capita income for Tibetan peasants and herders rose 13 percent to nearly 3,600 yuan (527 U.S. dollars) in 2009.
The central and local governments attached great importance to the stability and social and economic development of ethnic regions.
Inner Mongolia's new Party chief Hu Chunhua worked in Tibet from 1985 to 2006 before being transferred to Hebei and then Inner Mongolia, home to some ethnic groups, including Mongolian, Manchu, Oroqen and Ewenki.
With rich experience in China's ethnic regions, these newly-appointed officials should be capable of promoting ethnic unity and advancing overall development of the regions, experts say.
"The new NPC deputies will further the interests of the people in the ethnic regions. It is an opportunity for the ethnic regions," said Ye Duchu, professor at the CPC Central Committee's Party School.
"Opportunity always comes with greater responsibility," Ye said. |
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