Mayor elected in China's newly established Sansha city

YONGXING ISLAND, Hainan - Xiao Jie was elected Monday afternoon the first mayor of the newly established Sansha city in the South China Sea along with the head of the city's legislative body.

Xiao, 51, head of the Hainan Provincial Agriculture Department, was elected mayor of the city in the first session of the first Sansha Municipal People's Congress held on Yongxing Island, the government seat of Sansha.

Representatives pose for group pictures after the first session of the first Sansha Municipal People's Congress held on Yongxing Island, the government seat of Sansha City, in south China's Hainan province, July 23, 2012. Forty-five deputies to the municipal people's congress attended the first session of the first Sansha Municipal People's Congress and cast their votes. Xiao Jie was elected the first mayor of the newly established Sansha city Monday afternoon. (Xinhua/Hou Jiansen)

Fu Zhuang, 56, deputy director of Hainan Provincial Civil Air Defence Office, was elected director of the standing committee of Sansha Municipal People's Congress, the city's legislative body.

The legislative conference also elected three deputy mayors, head of the city's intermediate people's court and procuratorate. It also elected another five members of the standing committee of the Sansha Municipal People's Congress.

"It's a great honor to be the first mayor of Sansha, and it's also a brand new mission, challenge and test for me," said Xiao.

The first Sansha municipal government will be devoted to administrative management, economic development, people's livelihoods and environment protection in the coming five years, Xiao said.