THE Communist Party's top think tank has called for systematic liberalisation, including greater media and religious freedom in the next 12 years, as China seeks to become a "modern civil society" by 2020.

The report by scholars at the Central Party School in Beijing, the key academy for training top officials, warns that China risks social and economic instability if the ruling Communist Party does not set some limits on its own power and acknowledge that the public are fed up with institutionalised corruption and other abuses.

It comes as China faces increased scrutiny over its human rights record, peaking last week when US film director Steven Spielberg severed his ties with the 2008 Olympics after accusing Beijing of failing to do enough to end atrocities in Darfur committed by its trading partner Sudan.