More non-Party officials to appear
13/10/2007 10:48
More non-Communist and non-politically affiliated people will assume
senior positions in China's central and local governments, a senior official
promised yesterday.
"The central authorities will make proper appointment
arrangements for non-Communist friends who meet the requirements of government
positions so as to make the best use of their expertise," said Chen Xiqing,
deputy head of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China.
The united front work refers to efforts to pool
resources of different sectors for national construction.
Since the 16th
CPC national congress in 2002, non-Communists had made great progress in
participating in state affairs, Chen said in an online interview.
More
than 177,000 non-Communist members sat in legislatures, including seven
vice-chairpersons of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress,
the top legislature, and 50 standing committee members.
Forty-one
non-Communist officials served as vice directors of provincial legislatures and
462 as standing committee members.
China has more than 337,000
non-Communist political advisors, including 13 vice-chairpersons of the National
Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and 195
standing committee members, Chen said.
More than 31,000 non-Communists
were officials above county level, 27 provincial-level regions had non-Communist
vice-governors and about 90 percent of cities and counties had non-Communist
vice directors, he said.
More non-Party members were expected to become
leaders of state-level or local governments as multi-party cooperation and
political consultation improved.
Chen said the most prominent were Wan
Gang, Minister of Science and Technology, and Chen Zhu, Minister of Health, who
were the first group of non-Communist cabinet appointments since the
1970s.
Wan, a member of the China Zhi Gong (Public Interest) Party,
became Minister of Science and Technology in April 2007. Wan, 55, was president
of Shanghai's Tongji University before his appointment.
Chen Zhu, 54, a
Paris-trained scientist with no political party affiliation, became the
country's new Health Minister in June 2007.
Xinhua
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