Non-communist parties elect new leaderships

With the conclusion of the China Association for Promoting Democracy's (CAPD's) national congress on Friday, the country's eight non-communist parties have all elected their new party leaderships.

Since Nov. 30, the eight parties successively held the five-yearly national congresses, with the election of a new central committee -- the party leadership -- in each case.

Yan Junqi was re-elected chairwoman of the CAPD central committee during the party's 11th national congress, the party announced on Friday.

Yan hails from east China's Jiangsu Province and holds a doctoral degree in engineering. She worked as a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University before going on to become deputy mayor of Shanghai.

The 66-year-old joined the CAPD in 1998 and began serving as chairwoman of the association in December 2007.

In an address given at the congress's closing session, Yan said the new central committee will rally and lead the association to work hard under the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The CAPD congress called on all its 128,000 members to work together with the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) to build a moderately prosperous society and rejuvenate the Chinese nation.

Yan's words echoed remarks from newly-selected top leaders of the other seven non-communist parties, who all renewed their parties' commitment to follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The parties also vowed to study and carry out the new guidelines set by the power-transitional CPC National Congress of last month that set a policy tone for the country's future development.

Under China's multi-party cooperation system, non-communist parties participate in state affairs under the leadership of the CPC. They and the CPC work together and supervise each other, instead of opposing each other.

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

Non-communist parties had a total of more than 800,000 members as of the end of 2011, with more than 37,000 organs at community-based levels, according to official figures.

Founded between the 1920s and the late 1940s, they have a membership mainly consisting of professionals and academics from different sectors, elites among returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, people with links to the former Kuomintang, or Taiwan residents.

Non-communist parties have contributed to the formation of key official documents or policies in the country by offering comments and suggestions.

They are also active in promoting public welfare, helping the needy, alleviate poverty in remote regions and facilitate coordinated development in both urban and rural areas.

Furthermore, a number of non-communist party members hold key positions with government and judicial organs.

Statistics showed that 30 of 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have deputy governors with non-communist party backgrounds.

Health Minister Chen Zhu has been newly-elected as chairman of the Central Committee of Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party.

Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang has been re-elected top leader of the China Zhi Gong Party.

Wan Exiang, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, has been elected party chief of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.