Twenty-eight senior officials of the State Council take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution at a ceremony in Beijing, capital of China, July 8, 2019. The ceremony was held in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in downtown Beijing and overseen by Premier Li Keqiang. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-eight senior officials of the State Council took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution at a ceremony Monday.

The ceremony was held in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in downtown Beijing and overseen by Premier Li Keqiang.

The officials were appointed to 25 State Council departments from November 2018 to June this year.

Xiao Jie, state councilor and secretary-general of the State Council, announced the beginning of the ceremony, at which officials sang the national anthem and recited the oath.

In a speech after the ceremony, Premier Li asked officials to "stay loyal to the Constitution, exercise their duties according to law and work with diligence and integrity."

They were told to spare no effort in promoting healthy economic and social development and striving for building China into a great modern socialist country that was prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Vice Premiers Han Zheng, Sun Chunlan, Hu Chunhua and Liu He, and State Councilor Wang Yong and Zhao Kezhi were present.