China's national lawmakers reduced by one

BEIJING - The 12th NPC has a total of 2,983 deputies, one fewer than the figure announced at the last bi-monthly session in December.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Thursday announced the resignation of Li Dongsheng, a NPC deputy elected from southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Li was general manager of the Sichuan branch of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's largest oil and gas producer and supplier.

The Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress accepted Li's resignation earlier and submitted a report for final confirmation to the NPC Standing Committee at its bi-monthly session that closed here Thursday.

The announcement did not reveal why Li resigned.

The NPC Standing Committee also announced the dismissals of two NPC deputies. Chen Anzhong, former deputy director of the Standing Committee of Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress, and Zhu Deyi, former mayor of Jixi City in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Chen was removed from his official post in December for being under investigation for corruption.

Another NPC deputy Wan Jianmin, elected from east China's Jiangsu Province, also resigned. A NPC deputy from southwest China's Yunnan Province, Fang Wenxin, passed away in December.

Additionally, provincial people's congresses of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Guizhou elected four NPC deputies respectively to fill vacancies.

An annual session of the NPC, which all deputies are to attend, is scheduled to be held in March in Beijing.