Since the 15th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress was held in September 1997, leaders from non-communist parties have been invited to participate in 162 major foreign affairs of the state and CPC.

Non-communist party leaders have also visited more than 50 countries in the capacity of deputy chairpersons of either the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) or the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

"This showcases the close cooperation among different parties in China's political life and adds new content for improving the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC," said Liu Yandong, deputy head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The eight non-communist parties in China are the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, the China Democratic League, the China Democratic National Construction Association, the China Association for Promoting Democracy, the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, the China Zhi Gong Party (Public Interest Party), the Jiu San (September 3) Society and the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League.

These parties, most of which were founded in the 1940s, have 580,000 members, over 80 percent of whom hold senior technical positions in Chinese organizations.

Since the fourth plenary session of the 13th CPC Central Committee, the CPC Central Committee, with Jiang Zemin at the core, has summed up the basic experience of long-term cooperation between the CPC and other non-Communist parties and inherited and expanded late senior Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's theory of multi-party cooperation in accordance with the characteristics of the era and changes in the international situation, thus making the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation standardized, said Liu. According to Liu, in the past 13 years, the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, as well as departments entrusted by the CPC Central Committee and State Council have held 150 meetings in which non-communist party leaders and personages with no party affiliation participated. By discussing issues ranging from politics and the economy to social development, decision-making has become more open and democratic, she said.

At present, 120,000 of the country's non-communist party members and persons with no party affiliation have been elected as deputies to people's congresses at different levels, and another 240,000 people have been selected as members of the CPPCC at different levels.

A total of 2,140 have been appointed as deputy leaders or assistants of governmental organizations above county level and another 51 were appointed as deputy heads of people's courts or procuratorates at different levels.

In the past 13 years, the central committees of the different non-communist parties have put forward over 160 items of suggestions to the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the related organizations, of which, quite a number have been adopted.

In the meantime, the central committees of the non-communist parties and All-China Federation for Industry and Commerce have submitted some 600 items of proposals to the national CPPCC meetings, most of which were adopted and executed.

"The system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC will be further improved and expanded along with the development of socialist democratic politics in China and progress in political restructuring," said Liu Yandong.

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2002)