Chinese Communist elder issues bold call for democracy

BEIJING (Reuters) - In a bold jab before a key meeting of China's Communists, a 90-year-old former secretary to Mao Zedong has urged the Party to embrace democracy, saying that only political freedom can end instability and corruption.

Li Rui issued his demand for citizens' rights and legal shackles on Party power in a Beijing magazine, China Across the Ages (Yanhuang Chunqiu), just over two weeks before President Hu Jintao opens the 17th Party Congress, which is set to give him five more years in power.

Hu cautiously has signalled modest political adjustments under strict one-party limits. But in a sign that liberal reformers may feel emboldened to press for bigger steps, Li argued that tinkering was not enough.

In the October edition of the outspoken magazine, Li said his country could be dragged back into past decades of chaos unless long-delayed democratisation catches up with three decades of market reforms, ending the Party's "privileged status".

"I believe that reforming our Party is the crux that will decide the success or failure of all of China's reforms," wrote Li. He joined the Communists in 1937 and served as revolutionary founder Mao's biographer and secretary in the 1950s and later as a senior official under economic reformer Deng Xiaoping.

"Our Party must lead the way in exemplary enforcement of the Constitution and guaranteeing that the people enjoy their civic rights of freedom of expression, freedom of news, freedom of publication and freedom of association."

Li's challenge to one-party control is the boldest yet in a series of strikingly candid calls for liberalisation from older Party intellectuals this year.