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10/27/2005
China's White Paper on Democracy
It’s easy to write about China these days always something
happening, both politically and economically.
Last week the government released its first white paper on
democracy, “Building of Political Democracy in China.” 74
pages in length, it was issued while U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld was in China, meeting with President Hu
Jintao and other leaders. Rumsfeld told reporters:
“Obviously, those of us in the United States and in other
countries around the world hope that they make choices towards
a more open society. But obviously it is up to the People’s
Republic of China to make its decisions as to how it wants to
arrange itself from a political, economic and security standpoint.
But as they make those decisions, the rest of the world sees those
decisions and makes judgments about it.” [South China Morning
Post]
Following are excerpts from the document.
“Democracy is an outcome of the development of political
civilization of mankind. It is also the common desire of people
all over the world. Democracy of a country is generated
internally, not imposed by external forces.
“In the course of their modern history, the Chinese people have
waged unrelenting struggles and made arduous explorations in
order to win their democratic rights. But only under the
leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) did they
really win the right to be masters of the state. The Chinese
people dearly cherish and resolutely protect their hard-earned
democratic achievements.
“Because situations differ from one country to another, the paths
the people of different countries take to win and develop
democracy are different. Based on the specific conditions of
China, the CPC and the Chinese people first engaged in a New
Democratic Revolution, and after New China was founded in
1949, and proceeding from the actual situation of the primary
stage of socialism, began to practice socialist democracy with its
own characteristics. The experience over the past few decades
has proved that embarking on this road of development of
political democracy chosen by the Chinese people themselves
not only realized the Chinese people’s demand to be masters of
their own country, but is also gradually realizing their common
ideal to build their country into a strong and modern socialist
country.
“Socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics is being
constantly improved and developed. Since China adopted the
reform and opening-up policies at the end of the 1970s, while
making efforts to steadily deepen the reform of its economic
system, the country has unswervingly pushed forward reforms of
its political system. China’s democratic system has been
continuously improved, and the forms of democracy are
becoming more varied. The people are exercising fully their
right to be masters of the state. The building of political
democracy with Chinese characteristics is progressing with the
times, exhibiting great vigor and vitality.”
---
“China’s socialist political democracy accords with the national
conditions, ensures that the people give full play to their
enthusiasm, initiative and creativity in building and managing the
state as masters of the country and society, and promotes China’s
economic development and social progress in an all-round way.
Despite the tremendous achievements scored in building a
socialist political democracy, the CPC and the Chinese people
are clearly aware of the many problems yet to be overcome. The
major ones include: The democratic system is not yet perfect; the
people’s right to manage state and social affairs, economic and
cultural undertakings as masters of the country in a socialist
market economy are not yet fully realized; laws that have already
been enacted are sometimes not fully observed or enforced, and
violations of the law sometimes go unpunished; bureaucracy and
corruption still exist and spread in some departments and
localities; the mechanism of restraint and supervision over the
use of power needs further improvement; the concept of
democracy and legal awareness of the whole society needs to be
further enhanced; and the political participation of citizens in an
orderly way should be expanded. There is still a long way to go
in China’s building of political democracy, which will be a
historical process of continuous improvement and development.
“The history and reality of human political civilization have
proved that there is no one single and absolute democratic mode
in the world that is universally applicable. To say whether a
political system is democratic or not, the key is to see whether
the will of the overwhelming majority of the people is fully
reflected, whether their rights as masters of the country are fully
realized, and whether their legitimate rights and interests are
fully guaranteed.
“The arduous explorations and struggles made by the Chinese
people over the past 100 years and more in order to realize
democracy, and especially China’s success in building a socialist
political democracy, have made the CPC and the Chinese people
realize that China must base the building of political democracy
on its reality, review its own experience gained in practice,
treasure its own achievements, and learn from the experience and
achievements of the political civilization of other countries. But,
it must not copy any model of other countries.
“China’s building of political democracy will abide by the
following principles:
“—Upholding the unity of the leadership of the CPC, the people
being the masters of the country and ruling the country by law.
This is the most important and fundamental principle for
developing socialist political democracy in China. Leadership by
the CPC is the fundamental guarantee for the people to be the
masters of the country and the country to be ruled by law. The
people being masters of the country is the essential requirement
of socialist political democracy. Ruling the country by law is the
basic principle the CPC pursues while it leads the people in
running the country. Only by upholding the unity of these three
in China’s building of political democracy is it possible to ensure
that it is on the right track, and that socialist political democracy
is institutionalized and standardized, and in good order.
“—Giving play to the characteristics and advantages of the
socialist system. The biggest characteristic and advantage of
China’s socialist system is as follows: Under the leadership of
the CPC, the people of all ethnic groups, being masters of the
country, give full scope to their enthusiasm, initiative and
creativity in building a socialist country, and are united in
striving to realize socialist modernization and the great cause of
rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Sticking to this characteristic
and this advantage is the fundamental guarantee for the Chinese
people to grasp their own destiny in their own hands, create a
better and happier life, and build a prosperous, democratic and
civilized modern country.
“—Being conducive to social stability, economic development
and continuous improvement of the people’s life. Social
stability, economic development and the continuous
improvement of people’s life are both important goals and
necessary conditions for the people to be masters of the country.
The political development, economic development and cultural
development of a country interact and precondition one another.
Without social stability, smooth economic development cannot
be expected, while the goal of development is to let the people
enjoy the fruits of development together. The CPC and the
Chinese government will firmly concentrate on economic
construction, and make every effort to solidify the material and
cultural foundations for continuously raising the level of socialist
political democracy.
“—Facilitating the safeguarding of national sovereignty,
territorial integrity and state dignity. The Chinese people’s
struggle for democracy was closely related to the safeguarding of
national sovereignty, territorial integrity and state dignity from
the very beginning. If state sovereignty, territorial integrity and
state dignity, which represent one of common and basic interests
of the whole Chinese people, cannot be safeguarded, democratic
achievements they have obtained will be lost.
“—Being in accord with the objective law of progress step by
step and in an orderly way. China’s building of socialist
democracy is a historical process with continuous progress in
realizing the goal and enhancing the level of the people being the
masters of the country. A complete model of democracy cannot
be built overnight. The CPC and the Chinese people are
unswervingly pressing ahead with an all-round and coordinated
development of socialist material, political and cultural
civilization and the building of a harmonious society,
continuously studying new situations and new problems arising
in the course of the building of political democracy, exploring
and creating new mechanisms and new ways to ensure that the
people become the masters of the country, and developing
socialist political democracy under prescribed leadership, step by
step and in an orderly way in line with the objective law of the
development of socialist political democracy.
“—The socialist system has been introduced and practiced in
China for only a few decades, which is a short period compared
with other social systems adopted in the history of mankind. To
keep improving and developing socialist political democracy to
enable the people to fully enjoy and exercise their rights as the
masters of the country has always been the firm goal of all the
endeavor of the CPC and the Chinese people. At present and for
a period to come, the CPC and the Chinese government will
actively and steadily push forward the reform of the political
system, stick to and improve the socialist democratic system,
strengthen and improve the socialist legal system, reform and
improve the methods of leadership and rule of the CPC, reform
and improve the government’s decision-making mechanism,
promote the reform of the system of administrative management,
boost the reform of the judicial system, deepen the reform of the
cadre and personnel system, reinforce the restraint and
supervision over power, strive to maintain social stability, and
promote economic development and social progress in an all-
round way.
“—The immense achievements of the construction of the
socialism with Chinese characteristics have made the CPC and
the Chinese people full of confidence in the road of political
development chosen by themselves. Along with economic
development and social progress, China’s socialist political
democracy will be further perfected, and with its great
advantages and strong vitality, fully demonstrated. In the future,
the Chinese people will surely enjoy more and more substantial
fruits of their political civilization.”
---
Well, that’s the CPC’s official take and on the economic front
there has been more and more in the way of true freedom. But
it’s also clear the CPC is firmly in charge, at all times, and it
intends to be so for decades to come.
Included as part of the white paper were some statements from
the People’s Daily, such as the following:
“In March 2004, an Amendment to the Constitution was adopted
by the Second Session of the Tenth National People’s Congress,
which included the statement ‘the State respects and safeguards
human rights’ in the Constitution, thus ushering in a new chapter
in the progress of China’s human rights undertakings.”
I beg to differ.
And there was this statement put out by the Information Office.
“By the end of 2004, Tibetan Buddhist sites numbered more than
1,700 in the Tibet Autonomous Region, with 46,000 resident
monks and nuns, and mosques numbered 23,900 in the Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region, with 27,000 clerical personnel.”
I can’t say I know anything about the Uygur region, but it’s clear
there is essentially zero religious freedom in Tibet.
Academic Fang Ning of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
told Xinhua News Agency:
“It’s totally unbelievable for an economy to develop at an annual
growth rate of over 9 percent for more than 20 consecutive years
without support from political democracy.”
It’s all in the eyes of the beholder, I suppose. To be fair, though,
China has obviously made tremendous strides, far beyond what
anyone in the West could have conceived 20 years ago. And now
we must confront a steadily growing military power in an era of
dwindling natural resources, as well as globalization on the
economic front. Leaders in the West must not hesitate to
question China’s actions in the coming years, though we also
must not hesitate to celebrate any positives that redound to the
benefit of all the people, be they in China or the United States.
Hott Spotts will return Nov. 3.
Brian Trumbore
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