Newly-elected Chinese President Xi Jinping walks past former Chinese President Hu Jintao's seat at the closing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 17, 2013. China's new Premier Li Keqiang steps into the media spotlight on March 17 for a rare press conference, as the annual meeting of the country's rubber-stamp parliament closes. AFP PHOTO/GOH CHAI HIN (Photo credit should read GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images)
BEIJING (AP) - China's new leader Xi Jinping has pledged a cleaner, more efficient government as the country's ceremonial legislature wraps up a pivotal session to install the latest generation of communist leaders in a once-a-decade transfer of power.
The new leadership has said it will make a priority of social spending and other measures to spread prosperity more evenly and narrow a politically volatile gap between China's wealthy elite and poor majority, as well combat rampant corruption.
Before wrapping up its session Sunday morning, the rubberstamp National People's Congress endorsed the leadership's slate of veteran technocrats - many with strong international experience - to staff a Cabinet charged with overhauling a slowing economy and pursuing a higher global profile for the country without triggering opposition.
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