With the recent promotion of two non-Communists to cabinet ministers, the General Secretary of China's Communist Party Hu Jintao pledged in Beijing today that the ruling Communist Party of China plans to add more people outside of the Party to leading government positions.

Hu said in his keynote speech to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that the Party will "select and recommend a greater number of outstanding non-CPC people for leading positions."

Wan Gang, new minister of science and technology, and Chen Zhu, minister of health, have been the first non-Communist cabinet appointments since the late 1970s when China launched its economic reform and opening up.

According to Hu, such a move is part of the Party's efforts to "expand the patriotic united front and unite with all forces that can be united."

"Promoting harmony in relations between political parties, between ethnic groups, between religions, between social strata, and between our compatriots at home and overseas plays an irreplaceable role in enhancing unity and pooling strengths," he said.

Acting on the principle of long-term coexistence, mutual oversight, sincere treatment of each other and the sharing of weal and woe, "we will strengthen our cooperation with the democratic parties, support them and personages without party affiliation in better performing their functions of participation in the deliberation and administration of state affairs and democratic oversight," he said.