Top legislature approves minister nomination, adopts a number of bills

BEIJING—China’s top legislature ended its week-long bimonthly session on Saturday morning, approving the nomination of the new minister of commerce and adopting a number of bills, including one to raise the monthly individual income tax levy threshold.
Lawmakers voted to approve the nomination of Chen Deming, former governor of Shaanxi Province, as the new minister of commerce. Chen, born in 1949, replaces 58-year-old Bo Xilai, who was appointed Communist Party chief of the southwestern Chongqing municipality on Dec. 1. The amendment to the tax law raises the monthly individual income tax levy threshold from 1,600 yuan (218 U.S. dollars) to 2,000 yuan.
The change was intended to ease the burden for low- and middle-income earners in light of recent increases in consumer prices. The amendment will take effect on March 1, 2008. The law on individual income tax has been amended three times over the past five years. In October, 2005, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) amended the law to raise the individual income tax levy threshold from 800 yuan to 1,600 yuan. Last June, the legislature changed the law again to authorize the State Council to suspend or reduce the 20-percent tax on interest earned on personal savings, depending on economic and social conditions.
“The three amendments were made to offset the increase of people’s living expenses and aimed at easing the tax burden of medium- and low-income families,” Wu Bangguo, NPC Standing Committee chairman, said at the closing session. Lawmakers also voted to adopt a decision on issues related to methods for selecting the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and forming the HKSAR Legislative Council in 2012 and on issues relating to universal suffrage.
Wu said that the adoption of the methods was an important decision made by the NPC Standing Committee regarding the development of Hong Kong’s political system. He said the decision was significant to comprehensively implement the principle of “one country, two systems,” “Hong Kong people governing the HKSAR,” and the high degree of autonomy, as well as the HKSAR Basic Law.
It will also ensure Hong Kong’s democratic system will develop in line with the HKSAR Basic Law and in a gradual, progressive and healthy way, and it will maintain and promote long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong, Wu said. In relation to the methods, the NPC Standing Committee decided that appropriate amendments may be made to the specific method for selecting the fourth HKSAR chief executive and the specific method for forming the fifth term HKSAR Legislative Council in 2012.
The committee also decided that the election of the fifth HKSAR chief executive in 2017 may be implemented through universal suffrage. After the chief executive is selected through universal suffrage, the election of the HKSAR Legislative Council could follow suit, with all of its members to be elected in the same manner.
The committee decided that the election of the fourth HKSAR Chief Executive in 2012 would not be implemented through universal suffrage. Also, the election of the fifth term HKSAR Legislative Council in 2012 would not be implemented by electing all members through universal suffrage. The lawmakers also voted to adopt a draft law on labor dispute mediation and arbitration and the country’s first anti-drug law.
According to NPC statistics, labor disputes have risen continuously in recent years. Those statistics also show that labor dispute arbitration organizations at various levels dealt with 1.72 million cases involving 5.32 million employees from 1987through 2005, with a growth rate of 27.3 percent annually. Wu said that the law on mediation and arbitration is another important law aiming at improving China’s labor system, following the adoption of the laws on labor contracts and employment promotion earlier this year.—Xinhua