Wu Bangguo (C), chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China, presides over the closing meeting of the 29th session of the 10th NPC Standing Comittee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Aug. 30, 2007. (Xinhua/Li Tao Photo)

Chinese lawmakers attend the closing meeting of the 29th session of the Standing Committee of China's 10th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Aug. 30, 2007. (Xinhua/Li Tao Photo)

China's top legislature closed its seven-day bimonthly session on Thursday, adopting a law amendment that backs the government's expropriation of institutional and private houses for public interests and approving the nomination of five cabinet ministers.

The 170-member Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) also voted to expel former top Shanghai official Chen Liangyu and three other corrupt deputies out of the national legislature.

Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, chaired the closing meeting.

Lawmakers voted to add one clause to the Law on the Management of Urban Real Estate, allowing the government to expropriate institutional and private houses on state-owned land for public interests.

The new clause, added to adapt the real estate bill to the Property Law which is to go into force in October, also demands that house owners be compensated, their rights be protected and their residence conditions after resettlement be guaranteed.

Currently, there is no law defining the rights and procedure for the expropriation of institutional and private real estate, as is permitted by the Property Law that was enacted in March.

The amendment authorizes the State Council, or the cabinet, to make administrative regulations on such expropriation to ensure the smooth implementation of the landmark Property Law that grants equal protection to state, collective and private properties.

Four other laws and amendments were also adopted at Thursday's closing meeting, namely, the anti-monopoly law, the emergency response law, the employment promotion law and the amendment to the law on animal epidemic prevention.

Foreign acquisitions of Chinese companies will be subject to stringent new checks intended to protect China's economic security under the anti-monopoly law.

The emergency response law holds officials legally obliged to provide accurate and timely information on public emergencies, while media organizations that publish false reports could lose their business licenses under the law.

Under the new employment promotion law, employers could find themselves in court from next year if they discriminate against job seekers on the grounds of sex, age, religion, race or physical disability.

The revised animal epidemic prevention law asks all animal owners to comply with compulsory vaccination policies, especially owners of poultry and livestock bred in rural backyards, and pets in urban houses.

Chen Liangyu, former Communist Party chief of Shanghai, was stripped of his last official post as an NPC deputy at the meeting.

Duan Yihe, former chairman of the Standing Committee of Jinan Municipal People's Congress, Shandong Province, who was sentenced to death for murdering his mistress, was also expelled from the NPC.

The memberships of two other lawmakers, Sun Shengchang, former mayor of Qitaihe of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and Bao Jianmin, former head of Henan Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau, were also terminated because of graft charges.

Meanwhile, the session approved the appointment of five ministers including the minister of finance, supervision, personnel and state security, and the minister in charge of the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

The meeting also ratified two international treaties relating to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), and approved two member lists of electoral conference for the election of Hong Kong and Macao deputies to the 11th NPC in next March. 

Editor: Yan