China's political reform should highlight consultative democracy: political advisors

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Socialist consultative democracy, largely embodied by the political advisory system, should be raised to one of the priorities in China's political reform, political advisors said here.

Giving consultative democracy greater play will be the least risky and most effective way of pushing forward political reform in China, said Li Changjian, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body.

There are two major ways to represent democracy in China -- one is through elections, and the other is through consulting with people from different sectors to reach the maximum consensus, Li said in an interview with Xinhua.

Combining elections with consultations is part of the socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics, he said.

Li Junru, former vice president of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Party School as well as a national political advisor, told Xinhua that although there are many ways to realize a consultative democracy, the CPPCC is no doubt an effective one.

"In its 60-plus years of history, the CPPCC has gained rich experience in soliciting opinions from people in different sectors and producing proposals to the leadership for making decisions," he said.