Taiwan deputies to top legislature elected

BEIJING - Thirteen deputies to represent Taiwan at the upcoming plenary session of China's top legislature were elected on Wednesday via a secret ballot.

They were chosen from 16 candidates by a total of 115 election committee members at an electoral conference which opened on Monday.

The elected deputies of Taiwan to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), or the top legislature, are: Kong Lingzhi, Zhu Taiqing, Jiang Erxiong, Yang Xiaohong, Wang Yifu, Zhang Xiong, Zhang Xiaodong, Chen Jun, Chen Yunying, Chen Qinghai, Chen Weiwen, Fu Zhiguan and Liao Haiying.

The NPC is scheduled to convene its annual plenary session in early March.

Most of the 13 deputies, including four females, were born on the mainland and are second-generation Taiwanese. They are either Party or government officials, or scholars making remarkable contributions to science and technology, education and medicine, or representatives of the economic sector, from across the country.

The election committee was composed of 121 members chosen from more than 44,400 Taiwan compatriots in 33 electoral units nationwide.