Many firsts have caused fundamental changes in the country's
economic and political landscapes since reform and opening was
launched in the late 1970s. These include the first self-employed
people, the first private enterprise and the first freelancer.
With his appointment as minister of science and technology on
Thursday, Wan Gang, vice-chairman of China Zhi Gong Dang, one of
China's eight non-Communist parties, became the country's first
non-Communist cabinet minister since the reform and opening process
was launched.
Multi-party cooperation and consultation under the leadership of
the Communist Party of China (CPC) is the country's fundamental
political system. The appointment of a cabinet minister without a
Communist Party background signifies headway in multi-party
cooperation, an area with a lot of possibilities in terms of
political reforms.
There were quite a number of cabinet ministers who were members
of non-Communist parties or had no party affiliations when the
People's Republic of China was founded in 1949.
However, the various political movements dominated by leftist
ideology disfranchised almost anyone outside the CPC from the late
1950s to the late 1970s
As a matter of fact, multi-party cooperation needed to be
re-established after reform and opening was launched. The
pluralistic society that has taken shape in the past few decades
has brought forth many new social groups, and the private sector
has been given the status of an important part of national economy
in the Constitution.
Wan's appointment shows that the CPC is facing up to the
challenge of becoming more inclusive and bringing those outside the
Party into government.
Calls from the CPC leadership for more openings in government
departments at various levels for talented people from outside the
Party speak volumes about the efforts to promote multi-party
cooperation and consultation.
The CPC has made it an important aspect of its united front work
to attract more talented and capable non-Party members into
government leaderships.
Its sincerity and earnestness are evidenced by the fact that
thousands of non-Party members or people with no party affiliations
have been elected to government leaderships over the past couple of
years.
(China Daily April 28, 2007)