The chemical equilibrium state is treated as a fundamental ``reference frame'' in description of chemical reaction. In a definition of reactive absolute activities for components in chemical reaction the difference of chemical potential and its value in the equilibrium is used. The chemical reaction rate is shown to be proportional to the force X_new defined as the difference of reactive absolute activities of reactants and products. The force X_new is shown to be equivalent to the force following from chemical kinetics equations and compared with the reduced affinity X as well as with the force of Ross and Mazur X_RM = 1 - {exp}(-X). The force X_new coincides with X and X_RM near to the chemical equilibrium state. A range of the molar fraction of product, in which a difference between the forces X_new and X is relatively small, is larger than it would be for the forces X_RM and X. It means that for some chemical reactions the formalism of linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics can be used in wider ranges than usually expected. Particular analysis is presented for simple reactions.

PACS numbers: 05.70.Ln, 82.20.--w, 82.60.--s, 82.60.He