BEIJING, May 19 (Reuters) - Global drugmaker AstraZeneca will seek to be a patriotic company in China that "loves the Communist Party", its China president said at an event on Friday. While many local companies have in recent years publicly pledged allegiance to the ruling Chinese Communist Party as President Xi Jinping strengthened the party's role throughout Chinese society and its economy, such messaging is still unusual from foreign companies. "Build a local, transnational company that loves the Communist Party and loves the country," Wang said in his presentation to an audience of a few hundred participants, with the words flashed across the screen behind him. Last year, China accounted for 13% of AstraZeneca's total sales and the company is China's biggest drugmaker. Reporting by Joe Cash in Beijing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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