Minor Parties Advise China's Communists

BEIJING — China's communist government wants several small political parties to play a greater role in advising the leadership, though without challenging its authoritarian hold on Chinese society, the government said Thursday.

The statement of support for the eight minor parties came in a policy paper that follows on Chinese President Hu Jintao's call last month for more open, consultative decision-making to help the government cope with a fast-changing society.

While stressing the advisory and supervisory roles played by the small, powerless parties, the policy paper said plainly that the Communist Party "holds the leading and ruling position."

The Communist Party's leadership position "is the choice of history and the people," the paper said.

Trying to maintain the party's control while governing a society that has splintered into different interest groups is a key challenge for Hu. The paper's recipe of calling for greater consultation while insisting that the party go unrivaled has been a hallmark of Hu's leadership of the 73-million-member party.

The eight minor parties are holdovers from the early days of the revolution. De-fanged and co-opted by the party over the decades, they have served mainly to rubber stamp decisions taken by the leadership. Many of the parties' individual members remain influential in business and academic circles, providing a key conduit of communication for Chinese leaders.

Though the Communist Party has the final say, it has shown a willingness to go outside for expertise. Earlier this year, China appointed two non-communists to the Cabinet-level posts of minister of health and minister of science and technology.

Chen Zhu and Wang Gang, both of whom were educated in Europe, were the first nonparty members appointed to the Cabinet since the 1970s.

Despite the appeals for greater consultation and Hu's constant use of the word "democracy," the government has taken few steps to holding open elections. Limited elections are held at the neighborhood or village levels but most offices are filled by the party or people the authorities are comfortable with.

Activists who criticize the leadership or try to organize groups beyond government control are regularly harassed and imprisoned.

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