Addressing a high-profile national conference on united front work earlier this week, President and Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao called for an "unprecedented extensive and tremendously inclusive united front" to facilitate the nation's modernization drive.

Just in case the political jargon does not ring a bell with you in terms of what this means and where it stands in modern and contemporary Chinese politics, the united front, along with armed struggle and Party building, helped bring the Party to power during the years of Chinese revolution.

Building such alliances helped the Party organize successful resistance against the invading Japanese and win a protracted civil war with overwhelming Kuomintang forces.

It was broad sympathy and endorsement from beyond the Party that lifted the CPC to its current ruling status. The Party knows that very well, as one of the four departments of the CPC Central Committee focuses exclusively on united front work.

Hu's appeal was a sensible one because it is not only in line with his people-centered approach, but is also an essential prerequisite to building a harmonious society.

The CPC's legendary rise to power has cultivated generations of enthusiastic and, in many cases, successful alliance builders.

Late Chairman Mao Zedong, himself a big fan of people power, once famously stated that, during a revolution, what is most important is being able to tell your friends from your enemies. A primary cause of the failures in the early years of Chinese revolution, he said, was rooted in the failure to unite true friends and attack true enemies, or in other words, to build a meaningful united front.

In our time of peace, when revolution is part of a long-gone past and enemy elements have withered into a negligible existence in society, the united front is no longer a tool of struggle of any kind.

But it continues to be a necessary social adhesive. The new mission of united front work today is to rally as many people and as much support as possible around the CPC's ambitious nation-building program.

Since its announced goal of common prosperity is in the interests of virtually all, the united front can be as broad as society is. In this sense, it can be as extensive as possible, as long as it is inclusive.

The importance that Hu attached to inclusiveness is truly inspiring. An inclusive united front entails respect for divergent needs and wants, as well as different opinions. It is a very positive response to the increasingly pluralized and diversified society.

Mao once urged his colleagues to overcome their fear of differences within the united front. Friction is a natural part of a united front. It is not a problem if we keep it from becoming one, he said.

One reason why Hu and his comrades have the nation behind them is because they face and deal with life's less rosy aspects. There will be few real difficulties if a nation is a united front.

(China Daily July 14, 2006)