722 in China’s Docile Congress Break Ranks : Politics: A record number vote against a senior leader’s promotion. But he gets the job anyway.

Like a house pet unexpectedly turning on its master, China’s normally docile, rubber-stamp Parliament took a bite Monday at a senior leader--or at least let out a loud growl.

In the largest known “no” vote in the history of Communist China’s legislature, 722 delegates to the National People’s Congress voted against promoting Politburo member Li Tieying to an additional post as a state councilor. Another 137 delegates abstained.

As the only nominee, Li still got the job, with 2,037 votes. The State Council is an elite body, like a Cabinet, that ranks above the ministries.

In other action Monday, the Congress confirmed four vice premiers, seven other state councilors, a State Council secretary general and 40 ministers. It also approved previously announced amendments to China’s constitution aimed at strengthening the legal basis for market-oriented economic reforms. In most cases there were no more than a few dozen “no” votes.

The large negative vote against Li seemed to take the delegates themselves by surprise. It was the only unexpected event so far at the Congress, which opened its annual half-month session March 15.

No debate was allowed on the appointments placed before the Congress for confirmation Monday, so the delegates’ motives were unclear. It appeared, however, that many of them wished that Li had done more for schools during his just-ended tenure as minister of the State Education Commission.

And some may have voted against him in the belief that he owes his position to family connections rather than ability. Li, 56, is the son of the late Li Weihan, who was a high-ranking figure in the first generation of Communist revolutionaries.

A distinguished-looking elderly delegate, asked why so many had voted against Li, replied without hesitation, “It shows that they place importance on education.”

Another delegate said he had no idea but hadn’t expected it.

“It means that this is not just a rubber-stamp Congress,” said a pro-Beijing analyst from Hong Kong.

Although the anti-Li vote apparently was not scripted, and surely was a personal embarrassment, it was not without potential benefit to the government. By giving the impression that delegates enjoy at least a touch of freedom to vote as they please, it could help soften the repressive image that Beijing has had since the 1989 crackdown on China’s pro-democracy movement.

The vote also could lessen whatever sting Premier Li Peng may have felt Sunday when 210 delegates voted against his confirmation for a second term.

The Chinese political system remains tightly controlled from the top down, and direct challenges to Communist Party rule usually are dealt with harshly. For authorities to allow parliamentary votes of this magnitude against powerful leaders represents a sharp change from previous practice.

Five years ago, during what was universally seen as an upswing of political liberalization in China, delegates made news simply by failing to unanimously approve lists of committee members.

At the 1988 legislative session there was lively discussion, for example, of membership in the Committee on Education, Science, Culture and Public Health. But only eight out of 2,970 delegates voted against the list, while 69 abstained. When that day’s session ended, the official New China News Agency reported with apparent pride that “for the first time in the history of the National People’s Congress, not a single one of the NPC’s seven committees was elected unanimously.”