A group of visiting female lawmakers from the Republic of Korea on Thursday lauded China's plan to elect more women as deputies to the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), or parliament, in 2007.

The proportion of female NPC deputies will be raised to no less than 22 percent from the current 20.24 percent in the tenth NPC if a draft resolution on deputy election for next year's 11th NPC is approved by legislators at the ongoing tenth NPC annual session.

Kim Myung Ja, a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, said, "The efforts to add more female NPC deputies will not only be conducive to improving women's social status, but to building a more harmonious society."

Kim, also former environment minister of ROK, noted she realized the Chinese government has given top priority to ensure sustainable economic growth and conservation-minded social development.

"I'm confident that China will achieve its goal of Green Olympics in 2008," she said.

Jang Hyang Sook, a wheelchair-bound ROK congresswoman, said she was impressed with the high proportion of female lawmakers in China.

The proportion of female NPC deputies in China is much higher than 14 percent in the ROK and 16 percent on average in all Asian countries, said Jang, who attended the NPC meeting on the International Working Women's Day.

"I've read several works written by former Chinese leaders including Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping and found that the Communist Party of China had long been committed to seeking equality between men and women," she said.

Jang said China has made great progress in adding more women into the administrative and legislative bodies.

The 11.5-day fifth full session of the tenth NPC is scheduled to end on March 16.

Source: Xinhua