BEIJING - Leaders and parliament speakers of foreign countries have sent congratulatory messages to Zhang Dejiang on his election as chairman of China's top legislature, and Yu Zhengsheng as chairman of China's top advisory body.

Zhang was elected as the chairman of the 12th Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, at an NPC plenary session on Thursday.

Yu was elected as chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body in China, at the fourth plenary meeting of the first session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee on Monday.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the leaders and parliament speakers who have offered congratulations to Zhang included Kim Yong Nam, president of Presidium of Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung; Hungarian Speaker of the National Assembly Laszlo Kover; Uzbek President Islam Karimov; South African National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu; Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania Anne Makinda; Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea Kang Chang Hee; Speaker of Kyrgyzstan's Parliament Asylbek Jeenbekov; Tajik Upper House Speaker Makhmadsaid Ubaiduloev; Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia Ovik Abramyan; Niger's National Assembly Speaker Hama Amadou; Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia Theo-Ben Gurirab; Speaker of the Dominican House of Assembly Alix Boyd Knights; Belgian Parliament Speaker Andre Flahaut; and Tongan acting Parliament Speaker Tu'i Ha'ateiho.

The leaders who have sent congratulatory messages to Zhang also included President of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power Esteban Lazo; Pakistan's National Assembly Speaker Fahmida Mirza; Chairman of the State Great Hural of Mongolia Zandaakhuu Enkhbold; Sri Lanka's Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa; Speaker of Myanmar's House of Representatives U Shwe Mann; Kazakh Senate Speaker Kairat Mami; Gabon's Parliamentary Speaker Guy Nzouba Ndama; Guinea Bissau's National Assembly Speaker Sori Djalo; ?President of National Assembly of the Union of the Comoros Bourhane Hamidou; Speaker of Council of the Republic of Belarus Anatoly Rubinov and Chairman of the Belarus Parliament Vladimir Andreichenko; Chairman of Uruguayan Congress Danilo Astori; Guyana House Speaker Raphael Trotman; Macedonian Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanovski; and Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Abdelwahad Radi.

The leaders who have sent congratulations to Yu included the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Huynh Dam; Hungarian Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kover; Kyrgyz Parliament Speaker Asylbek Jeenbekov; Chairman of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Rybak; and President of the Senate of Romania Crin Antonescu.

In addition, Esteban Lazo, president of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power; Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan Nayyar Hussain Bukhari; President of the Senate of Cambodia Chea Sim; Chairman of the State Great Hural of Mongolia Zandaakhuu Enkhbold; and Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey have also sent messages of congratulations to Yu.