Wal-Mart, the US retailer widely seen as a symbol of unbridled capitalism, is allowing the establishment of a Communist party committee (CPC) in one of its Chinese stores.

The news comes weeks after the world's biggest retailer accepted trade unions in its Chinese outlets - something that it would not countenance in its US stores.

The party branch has been set up in Wal-Mart's store in Shenyang, in the northeast. Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, said the committee had been established on August 12th. Wal-Mart could not be reached for comment.

Xinhua said the committee would allow "employees at the Wal-Mart store to have access to CPC membership".

The establishment of the Communist party committee is largely symbolic and is unlikely to have much, if any, impact on the day to day management of the store.

However, like similar party committees in local private companies and foreign multinationals, the move underlines the convergence of interests between business and China's communist party rulers.

Companies qualify to form a committee only if at least three employees are already party members. Relatively few foreign multinationals, however, have party committees.

Party committees are mandatory in state-owned enterprises but differ in their role - some run political education campaigns while others are confined to human resources issues.

The party has been pushing for years to extend its reach into private companies, the most dynamic part of the economy but with mixed success. Wal-Mart has about 60 stores in China and has plans to open many more.