Recently, democracy is being widely discussed around the world. This should have been a good thing. But a very few countries are using democracy as a cover: they twist its essence, and willfully set its standards. They even take democracy as a political tool for selfish gains, and build small blocs to create division and confrontation in the world. This obviously runs against the spirit of democracy. Today, I wish to share a few of my thoughts about democracy.
The first question I’d like to answer is: Is China a democratic country or not? Some in the west claim that there seems to be no democracy in China. In their eyes, although China has created many miracles of long-term stability, rapid development and poverty reduction, and the government has the universal support of the Chinese people, China is still a country without democracy and without human rights. This actually reveals their hostile mindsets and intentions, namely, democracy is just a tool to repress anyone who disagrees with them and to contain the development of other countries.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Since its founding, the CPC has taken the wellbeing for the Chinese people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation as its abiding goals, and has made continuous efforts to ensure the people’s status as masters of the country. For 100 years, China has never stopped its efforts to pursue and advance democracy. China is a country with a feudal history dating back several thousand years that descended into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society after the Opium War of 1840. It is the CPC that has led the Chinese people in realizing people’s democracy. Nowadays, the Chinese people truly hold in their hands their own future and that of society and the country, China’s democracy has made steady and historic progress. In particular, since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has deepened the knowledge on the laws of democracy, and proposed the important concept of “whole-process people’s democracy”. This is a major innovation on the people’s democratic system. Socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics is now in a new era.
China’s whole-process people’s democracy is not for the few or an interest group. It is for the majority and the whole Chinese people. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said, “Our goal is both big and simple. It is essentially about delivering a better life to all Chinese. Putting people first is our fundamental philosophy of governance”. All the 2.62 million deputies in the five levels of people’s congresses, from the National People’s Congress down to provinces, cities, counties, and townships, are elected by the people. The people in China participate extensively in state affairs, especially local-level governance, to exercise their constitutional rights. Among the deputies to the 13th National People’s Congress, frontline workers, farmers and people with special skills take up a much bigger share. This shows the broadness of the NPC deputies and the extensive political participation by the people.
China has always been on the path of developing democracy that suits its national conditions.Recently, the election for the seventh-term Legislative Council (LegCo) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was held in a smooth and orderly fashion in accordance with the law. More than 1.35 million voters cast their ballots, who have fought back against the smears and slanders targeting the legitimacy of the new electoral system with their actions. It was the latest successful practice of Hong Kong implementing the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong” and developing sound democracy, applying meritocracy and advancing good governance. It also has a far-reaching significance to developing democracy suited to Hong Kong’s realities, shaping a new structure for good governance in Hong Kong, and promoting the steady and sustained implementation of One Country, Two Systems.
Looking at China’s path to democracy in modern times, it highlights an important lesson: For democracy to succeed in a country, it must take deep roots in that country, and make its own people happy and satisfied.
Democracy is a common value shared by mankind. It is a right for all nations, not a prerogative reserved to a few. Whether a country is democratic should be judged by its people, not dictated by a handful of outsiders. Whether a country is democratic should be acknowledged by the international community, not arbitrarily decided by a few self-appointed judges.
But recently, a very few countries are using democracy as a cover, they take democracy as a political tool for selfish gains, and even hold the so-called Summit for Democracy. They listed half the countries and regions in the world as democracies and the rest as non-democracies based on their own criteria, which is the very opposite of democracy. This kind of practice will only undermine democracy in the name of promoting democracy.
No democratic system is a panacea. If a country disregard the huge differences in culture, history and civilization of different countries, insist on condescendingly imposing its so-called “democracy” on other countries and even interfering in their domestic affairs or waging military invasion, the result can only be turmoil, warfare and refugees in the affected countries.
Our world is going through a pandemic and changes unseen in a century, we are facing the continued resurgence of COVID-19, fragile economic recovery, and other grave global challenges such as terrorism and climate change. Now more than ever, the world needs to come together and respond collectively. What the world exactly needs is not a “Summit for Democracy” that incites division and confrontation, but efforts to uphold true multilateralism on the basis of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, and jointly deal with common challenges. We call on some countries to abandon the practice of containing so-called adversaries for geopolitical gains under the pretext of democracy and uphold democracy as it is so as to benefit the people.
As an old Chinese poem goes, “When I glance at the visage of vernal breeze, I know that a thousand flowers of purple and red set spring aglow.” China’s democracy is thriving alongside those of other countries in the garden of civilizations. China stands ready to further cooperate and coordinate, promote exchanges and mutual-learning, and carry forward common values of humanity for peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom with Ethiopia and other countries. In the spirit of mutual respect and following the principle of seeking common ground while setting aside differences, we will contribute wisdom and strength to global political progress!