More than one-third of China's parliament either voted against or abstained on two key reports yesterday in what was interpreted as a backlash against corruption and organised crime.
A quarter of delegates to the National People's Congress also abstained or voted against the 2001 budget, which allows for a 17.7 per cent increase in defence spending.
The Chinese Premier, Mr Zhu Rongji, admitted during his annual press conference after the votes that the results were "quite serious".
The reports from the People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate vowed to wipe out official corruption and organised crime. But some delegates felt they did not go far enough.
China's parliament has never rejected a Communist Party proposal, but secret voting has allowed delegates to send signals to the government and the Communist Party.
At the press conference to mark the end of this year's National People's Conference, Mr Zhu was still insisting the school explosion which claimed the lives of more than 40 children in Jiangxi province last week was not the result of an illegal fireworks operation.
Last week he claimed a mentally disturbed man had been responsible for the explosion.
Mr Zhu said the overseas media did not agree with the explanation of the cause of the incident. He had sent a six-member expert team to conduct an investigation and they reported no evidence pointing to the production of fireworks at the scene.
He said the State Council would honour its commitments to guarantee the safety of Chinese children and the government would draw a lesson from the incident. "We will never allow any student in our nation to engage in activities and work that will pose a danger to his or her life."
He warned that the head of a city or a county would be sacked immediately should such an incident happen. Governors would also be disciplined, he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Zhu confirmed that President Bush is to make his first state visit to China on October 20th to an Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum in Shanghai. Mr Bush will meet the Vice-Premier, Mr Qian Qichen, in Washington on March 22nd in the first meeting between a senior Chinese government member and the new US president. Mr Qian is expected to highlight China's opposition to proposed US weapons sales to Taiwan during his visit.