a bridge or mediator between workers and management and start acting as a genuine voice of the workers. This pressure arose both internally and was also applied by the Chinese Communist Party. Lack of independence The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (now the International Trade Union Confederation) maintains the position that the ACFTU is not an independent union, stating in its policy: There are differing approaches among ICFTU affiliates and Global Union Federations concerning contacts with the ACFTU ranging from “no contacts” to “constructive dialog.” The ICFTU, noting that the ACFTU is not an independent trade union organization and, therefore, cannot be regarded as an authentic voice of Chinese workers, reaffirms its request to all affiliates and Global Union Federations having contacts with the Chinese authorities, including the ACFTU, to engage in critical dialog. This includes raising violations of fundamental workers’ and trade union rights in any such meetings, especially concerning cases of detention of trade union and labor rights activists. According to Charter of China Trade Union, which is passed by the 17th National Congress of China Trade Unions on 26 October 2018, "The China Trade Union is a mass organization of the working class led by the Chinese Communist Party and a voluntary union of employees. It is a bridge and link between the Chinese Communist Party and the masses of workers, an important social pillar of the state power, and a representative of the interests of its members and workers." " The China trade unions persist in consciously accepting the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, shoulder the political responsibility of uniting and guiding the workers and the masses to listen to and follow the Communist Party of China, and consolidate and expand the class basis and mass basis of the Communist Party of China’s governance." ACFTU activist Guo Wencai has said that democratic elections were a key standard to measure the effectiveness of a trade union and noted that the practice of Chinese company chiefs "appointing union leaders or assigning someone from their human resources department to act as union leader hampers a trade union's independence and its ability to protect workers' rights." Other labor activism in China The ACFTU remains the country's only legally permissible trade union. Attempts to form trade unions independent of the ACFTU have been rare and short-lived. One notable example is the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation formed during the 1989