China has 176,000 non-CPC (Communist Party of China) deputies to the people's congresses at various levels nationwide, says a white paper on Building of Political Democracy in China, issued by the Information Office of the State Council on Wednesday.

The white paper says, deputies to the congress reflect the wishes of the people, participate in decision-making, and supervise the work of the government through their activities in the people's congresses. In 2003, when a new term of office began, 176,000 non-CPC personalities (members of the democratic parties and personages without party affiliation) were elected deputies to the people's congresses at various levels nationwide.

Among them, seven are vice-chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee and 50 are members of the NPC Standing Committee.

At the end of 2004, 32,000 members of the democratic parties and personages without party affiliation held leading positions in government and law-enforcement departments at and above the county level.

The political party system China has adopted is multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, which is different from both the two-party or multi-party competition system of Western countries and the one-party system practiced in some other countries, the white paper says.

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is an organization of the patriotic united front of the Chinese people. It is an important organ of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, and an important instrument of democracy in the country's political life.

There are nine political parties in China at present. Besides the CPC, there are the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (founded in 1948), the China Democratic League (founded in 1941), the China National Democratic Construction Association (founded in 1945), the China Association for Promoting Democracy (founded in 1945), the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party (founded in 1930), the China Zhi Gong Dang (founded in 1925), the Jiusan Society (founded in 1945) and the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League (founded in 1947).

Source: Xinhua