Non-governmental forces are apt to greatly help China's pursuit of harmony in its economic and social development, said a member of the top advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, on Thursday.

Wang Ming, director of the NGO (non-governmental organizations)Research Institute of Tsinghua University, told Xinhua that China's burgeoning NGOs have an irreplaceable role to play in soothing the country's growing conflicts and discontent and facilitate communications and understanding among people of various social strata.

As China maintained a fast social and economic development in the past two and half decades, grumbles about unbalanced development of urban and rural areas as well as an increasingly widening gap between the rich and the poor gradually become cynosural factors likely to disrupt China's sustained social and economic development.

Presently, China has some 3 million non-governmental agencies but their existence is yet to be felt due to the lack of an extensive recognition of their functions and irreplaceable position in the increasingly market-oriented society, said the NGOexpert.

"China should better mobilize non-governmental forces in its conflict solution mechanism," said Wang, considering "varied conflicts" as the top deterrence to materializing the guideline of” constructing a harmonious socialist society", recently endorsed by the central authorities.

According to CPPCC National Committee member Jing Tiankui, director of sociology research institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), NGOs will occupy a niche usually beyond reach of government departments and corporate bodies as well as greatly help eliminate chronicle headaches such as unemployment problems.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2005)