By Ruben Guzzetti & Marcelo Rodriguez
The debate about what democracy is crosses political and academic boundaries, extending across certain contexts of society. The system, conceived to defend the people’s right to elect and supervise their rulers through mechanisms of direct or indirect participation, is adopted in many Western countries, and in Latin America in particular, the U.S. model is used.
With China’s rise in the international arena, debates are unfolding in the West as to whether the former has democracy. Much more is known in China about the democracy that is practiced in the West than in the West about the Chinese political system and its democratic practices.
Differences
The Chinese democracy topic has sparked lively discussion in recent years. It is considered a tool for the benefit of society, not a good in itself. Yet many in the West seem convinced that if there is not an electoral process based on a multiparty system, with a very strong tendency toward U.S.-style bipartisanship, there is no democracy at all.
In general, there is a need for the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) to advance intra-Party democracy and further deepen the current economic, political, and ideological legitimacy. If the legitimacy of the CPC deteriorates, this will not only have consequences in China, but throughout the world.
People’s congresses at different levels and the national and local committees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference are among the many platforms through which Chinese people can exercise democracy, participate in state and local affairs, voice their opinions, and supervise the government and the implementation of laws and adopted resolutions.
Dr. Cristina Reigadas, a political philosophy and ethics expert from Argentina, believes the claim “there is no democracy in China” reflects a Eurocentric prejudice and that Chinese political culture is suitable for democracy.
In China’s political reality, efforts to strike a balance between tradition and innovation, as well as centrality and decentralization, within the framework of democratic centralism, create the best conditions for the growing popular participation in state affairs and democratic practices. This dynamic, enriching and not without challenges, is a process that is based on the Sinicization of Marxism. It considers the rich ancient culture and philosophy of China and allows for a permanent adaptability to the changing reality, upholding the principle of seeking truth from facts. This steers the country toward the resolution of challenges, toward a society ruled by law and a socialist future.
In this regard, President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech in October 2021 at a central conference on work related to people’s congresses. There, he stressed that the government promotes democracy in China and encourages popular participation in national governance, adding, “Whether a country is a democracy or not depends on whether its people are really the masters of the country.”
Xi affirmed democracy is a shared value of humanity and has always been cherished by the CPC and the Chinese people; it is not a decorative ornament, but an instrument to address people’s concerns.
He was very clear about the attacks on the Chinese political system by stating that to judge whether a country is democratic or not, one must look into whether the rules and procedures for the exercise of power are implemented to the letter, and whether the exercise of power is genuinely subject to public scrutiny and checks. Xi said whether a country is democratic should be judged by its people, not dictated by a handful of outsiders, in a clear reference to the interventionist policies and the anti-China campaign promoted by the U.S. and its allies. Xi believes there is no fixed model of democracy; it manifests itself in many forms.
Permanent debate
Based on what we have observed, we can conclude that socialism with Chinese characteristics is not incompatible with democracy, unlike what many Western analysts want to make out, starting from the idea that democracy is exclusively Western. On the contrary, in China, a whole-process people’s democracy is in place.
One aspect that we deem very important is the way in which candidates for different legislative and executive positions are elected in each country. In China, the starting point is direct elections at the primary level and indirect elections at higher levels. Candidates are proposed by local communities and organizations. The elected, in turn, elect representatives to higher authorities, but have to answer for their decisions to the lower levels. In China, consultative democracy is advancing, an effective practice to turn the principle that the people are the masters of the country into a reality.
Although it is very difficult to predict how the political and participatory systems will evolve in China and in Western countries that follow the American model, history does give us some more data. Through ongoing processes and the systemic characteristics within the capitalist or socialist objectives of these countries, we have a guideline to the establishing of trends.
In this sense, we understand that as the process of building socialism with Chinese characteristics continues with the creation and consolidation of popular participation mechanisms, with the same flexibility it has been demonstrating, it can achieve much deeper progress than expected.
Yet many Western societies face the contradiction between capitalist logic and the preeminence of increasingly concentrated economic, financial and media powers, which act as strong limitations to autonomous and sovereign projects and, ultimately, to the deepening of democracy. -The Daily Mail-Beijing Review News Exchange Item
