China fully committed to democracy
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China Daily, December 9, 2011
From the practices of China's building of political democracy, we have obtained the following implications:
First, the development of democracy must hold on to and always adhere to the essence of democracy. There are various definitions for democracy, among which the most fundamental, I think, is that the government should follow the will of its people and act according to the will and requirements of most people. This is the essence of democracy, and also the touchstone to judge and examine whether a political system is democratic. If a government, against the interests and requirements of the majority, acts according to the will of a minority and implements its "democracy" in a variety of dazzling yet superficial forms, it will not be democracy in the true sense. The greatest characteristics and advantage of China's building of democracy is that the CPC and the Chinese government have always been committed to realizing the fundamental interests and requirements of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people. In semi-colonial and semi-feudal old China, the Chinese people's greatest wish was to realize national independence, national liberation and people's democracy. The CPC has led the Chinese people to fulfill this wish and requirement, and hence won their support. After the founding of New China, the Chinese people's greatest wish and requirement was to get rid of poverty and backwardness, bring the people wealth and the country strength. The CPC and the Chinese government have led the Chinese people to continuously explore and successfully blaze a development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The country has hence achieved the rapid economic and social development, people's life has been greatly improved and the comprehensive national power and worldwide influence has significantly increased. Step by step, the Chinese people's century-old dream is coming true, and therefore the CPC and the Chinese government are supported by most people. According to the 2008 survey on the public's levels of satisfaction with their own government by the Pew Research Center, among 24 participating nations, the Chinese people expressed the greatest level of satisfaction with 86 percent being satisfied with the way things were going in China. Also, they were the most satisfied with their country's current economic situation 82 percent say the economy is good.
Second, the development of democracy must be customized to China's own conditions, and we should seek a political development model suitable to the nation's needs. Both history and recent experiences show that the development of democracy is restricted by historical, social, economic and cultural factors in various countries. Due to their different historical backgrounds, cultural traditions and development levels, they tended to adopt different models to achieve democracy. There is no universal model of democracy in the world. Only based on its own history and unique conditions can one country explore a development model of democracy suitable to its own situations, so that the country and its people would be full of vitality. It's very harmful to ignore the objective reality and copy the model of democracy from other countries. China's democracy is effective, because it not only fully draws on the achievements of human political civilization, but is rooted in the Chinese nation's traditions in culture and knowledge for thousands of years. It was created by the Chinese people according to China's unique conditions, during their great works of striving for national independence, people's liberation and the country's prosperity. China is the biggest developing country in the world. Due to its large population, inadequate resources per capita, underdeveloped economy, aged culture, imbalanced development and other basic characteristics, the country for a long time faced a tough task of going through the modernization, which it only took decades to match what developed countries achieved in a hundred year or even hundreds of years. China needs a strong government to carry out its plans and push forward modernization. It needs to safeguard stability and unity for its development and mobilize the masses to bring their initiative and creativity into full play. Just based on this reality, China has found its own democracy, feathered with a unicameral legislature the National People's Congress, the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, the system of regional ethnic autonomy and the grassroots democratic self-governance system. They all meet the needs of development for contemporary China and the requirements for the people's democratic participation, and embody the Chinese traditional culture which advocates harmonious cooperation and the basic spirit of "harmony but not uniformity." Such a model of democracy guarantees a strong system for China's modernization.
Third, the development of democracy must adhere to reform and innovation, gradual and orderly development. Democracy is a continuously developing historical process. It cannot be achieved in one go, nor can it stray from the objective reality, or surpass or lag behind stages of social development. China's experiences have proven that its building of political democracy must adapt to continuous changes of the economic and social development, as well as the people's continuously growing enthusiasm and level for political participation. China must continuously study new situations and problems with the spirit of reform and innovation, explore and create the new mechanism and means to realize democracy, and promote its orderly political development in accordance with the rule of law. Like China's modernization, its building of political democracy is now in the development stage. It faces many problems and challenges, and needs to be improved and developed through further reform and innovation. China will adhere to taking the path of political development under socialism with Chinese characteristics, and carry out political restructuring in an active yet prudent manner. By further improving systems, enriching forms and broadening channels, it will expand citizens' orderly political participation at various levels and in different fields, mobilize and organize the people on the largest scale to manage state and social affairs and economic and cultural undertakings according to law. It will continuously improve and develop the system of political democracy, and make due contributions to the development of human political civilization.
For a long time, developing countries have been making great efforts and paying a huge price to seek the model of democracy suitable for them. Encouragingly, some emerging countries, based on their countries' own unique conditions, have actively drawn on the helpful experience of developed countries and strived hard to explore the path and model of democratic development with their own characteristics. They have made remarkable achievements and accumulated rich experience. When advocating for democracy, the international community should take into consideration the experience and contributions of both developed and developing countries. Especially, adequate consideration should be given to the actual conditions of developing countries, their exploration for development of democracy, their efforts, contributions and valuable experience. The international community should listen more to the voices of developing countries. It does not conform to the spirit of democracy if a small number of developed countries hold a dominant control of democratic discourse and interpretation. The Bali Democracy Forum provides an important platform for countries with various cultural backgrounds and in different stages of development to hold dialogues and discussions on the issue of democracy. This is a good first step.
We have come into an information age. The development of the Internet has greatly changed the human society, people's mode of production, lifestyle, way of thinking, as well as means of communication and government administration. It not only provides a wider space for people from various countries to enjoy their rights to be informed, to be heard, to participate and to supervise, but also poses daunting challenges for the political development of both developing and developed countries. The information age calls for innovation of the concept and system of democracy, and urges all countries to strengthen cooperation and seek political development.
China is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries in the world. We can learn from each other and join hands to explore and push forward the new progress of political democracy in the information age, and make unremitting efforts to build a harmonious world with lasting peace and common prosperity.
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