The new leader of China’s ruling Communist Party has pledged to work with the eight other non-Communist parties in the country to promote “multi-party cooperation system”, hinting at political reforms in the tightly controlled one party nation.
Xi Jinping, 59, who was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) last month replacing Hu Jintao met the non-Communist party leaders and “vowed to insist on the multi-party cooperation system” and support their role in political supervision.
Xi met the new leaderships of China’s eight non-communist parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) on December 24 and 25, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
“China will unswervingly insist on and improve multi- party cooperation and the political consultation system under the leadership of the CPC, supporting the non-communist parties to fully exert their advantages while participating in state affairs,” Xi said.
CPC has over 80 million members. CPC with its absolute control on the state and the military retains control in China’s power structure. It vigorously pursued economic reforms in the past three decades, but studiously kept away political reforms.
The outgoing Chinese leaders, specially Premier Wen Jiabao, spoke about opening up time and again but has not implemented it. There are eight state permitted minor non-communist political parties with about 8.40 lakh membership. They have little role in the system dominated by CPC.
Early this year Zhang Xiansheng, spokesman for the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee said: “Unlike in other systems, these parties are not the opposition. Rather, they participate in the administration of state affairs.” he said without specifying their role.
Early this year, the government said it plans to employ more non-communists as heads of official bodies.
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