Shanghai government will allow people who are not a member of the Communist Party of China to be top leaders of government departments, the United Front Work Department of the Shanghai Committee of the Communist Party of China said yesterday.

Shanghai had 13 non-Party cadres for important positions in 12 government departments by the end of June, Shanghai Morning Post reported.

As of now, the top leaders of government departments are all party members.

Vice directors of Shanghai Public Health Bureau, Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration, Shanghai Economic Commission and Shanghai Information Technology Development Commission are all non-Party members, as well as vice presidents of Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court and Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.

Shanghai is improving its mechanism of training and appointing non-Party members, as well as setting up an evaluation system for them.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2006)