Ex-official urges end to one-party rule in China

BEIJING, Nov 1 (Reuters) China's Communist Party must end one-party rule and stop persecuting civil right campaigners to realise its leader's promises of a ''harmonious society'', the most senior official jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen protests said.

Bao Tong, once a top aide to then party chief Zhao Ziyang, has become a thorn in the government's side and an outspoken critic of China's human rights abuses since he was freed in 1996 after serving seven years in prison.

''Abolish one-party autocracy and China will in general be harmonious,'' Bao wrote in an essay, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters. He could not be reached for comment because he is under tight, around-the-clock police surveillance.

Taking a swipe at incumbent party chief Hu Jintao's political slogan to build a harmonious society and ease volatile social inequality, Bao said there could be harmony only if China had an independent media and market.

He said the party would get a new lease on life if it embraced change, including a separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

The Communist Party has monopolised power since 1949 but flirted with limited political reform in recent years in its search for viable checks and balances to curb corruption.

China's leaders have ruled out Western-style democracy, but Bao said sweeping political liberalisation was the only way forward.

''The earlier it is done the earlier it would be harmonious. If it is not done, there cannot be harmony,'' wrote Bao, who was purged along with Zhao for opposing sending in troops and tanks to crush student-led pro-democracy protests on June 4, 1989.

Zhao was ousted and replaced by Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, who retired in 2002. Zhao died in January 2005 after more than 15 years under house arrest.

Bao, who turns 74 in November, said it was time for the current leadership to face up to misdeeds by local officials.

Beijing has been silent on two notorious incidents in the southern province of Guangdong last year -- thugs terrorising lawyers, reporters and Taishi villagers who sought to sack their village chief for corruption, and police shooting and killing at least three Dongzhou villagers protesting against land grabs.

''Now is the moment (for the leaders) to speak up,'' Bao wrote.

''If (they) do not speak up, it's giving tacit approval, connivance and instigation.'' Whether the leadership is able to politically rehabilitate jailed blind ''barefoot lawyer'' Chen Guangcheng, Shanghai-based lawyer Zheng Enchong and others ''has a bearing on the present credibility, image and fate'' of the leadership, Bao wrote.

Chen was sentenced to four years in prison in August on charges that government critics say were trumped up by officials in the coastal province of Shandong enraged after he exposed forced late-term abortions in a population control drive. Local officials prevented Chen's lawyers from defending him.

Zheng was released in June after serving three years in prison on charges of ''illegally providing state secrets overseas'' after he helped evicted Shanghai residents seek compensation.

Bao said one-party rule had spawned corruption and become the main cause of disharmony in society.

''How can the Communist Party monopolise the power to fight corruption?'' Bao asked.

REUTERS SRS BD0413