Party sets up branch in Wal-Mart HQ

Wal-Mart employees in mainland China have established a Communist Party branch at the company's mainland headquarters in Shenzhen, the Wall Street Journal reported. The branch was inaugurated Friday and follows the organization of similar bodies in five Wal-Mart stores since August, spokesman Jonathan Dong told the newspaper. In recent years, the party has worked to increase its presence in private business. Subsidiaries of DuPont, a US chemical maker, and Isetan, a Japanese retailer, already have party branches. The newspaper said such branches do not interfere in company management but the party's constitution requires companies with more than three party members set up a branch.