The uncompromising approach to calls for political reform reflected in the crackdown on the Jasmine rallies that I’ve talked about in recent weeks is being echoed at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party leadership.
Delivering a work report at the Fourth Session of the 11th National People’s Congress yesterday, China’s top legislator ruled out Western-style reform, warning of an ‘abyss of internal disorder’ if China strays from the ‘correct’ path.
Speaking in the Great Hall of the People, the People’s Daily quotes Wu Bangguo as saying:
‘On the basis of China's conditions, we've made a solemn declaration that we'll not employ a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation…Following our own path and building socialism with Chinese characteristics is...the only correct road to development and progress for our country.’
Stability, stability and stability are the three watchwords for the CCP leadership, which is determined to drum home the idea that anything but what it offers would be a dreadful mistake that would put at risk ‘the achievements gained thus far in development’ noted by Wu. It’s a well-worn political tactic, by no means exclusive to China.
The same day, Li Fei, vice director of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, continued with this theme of a ‘uniquely’ Chinese system when discussing law enforcement on the sidelines of the Congress.
Recognizing that corruption among officials is one of the biggest concerns among Chinese, Xinhua News Agency quotes Li as saying:
‘We have set up various oversight mechanisms to supervise their work, such as the oversight system by the people's congresses.’ Li also pointed to other oversight mechanisms, ‘including the disciplinary inspection within the Communist Party of China, supervision from the public and the media.’
Reddit
Digg
StumbleUpon
Delicious
Technorati
Yahoo
Google
Plurk
angelus512
Typical. As if we expected that desiccated old corpse to say anything else…
yang zi
these communist leaders are shameless. freedom is human nature, why they are not accepting it?
david
Although I ,an average people from mainland china , don’t agree with the opinion of communist authorities about democracy , but i think democracy in china is supposed to be gained step by step. Let’s wait and see what will happen in china in the future.
yang zi
also, China’s 12th 5 year plan has statements about speeding up the transformation of ways to generate military strength. it basically means military will have a wholesale equipment upgrade, command and control system upgrade, and modern warfare capability upgrade. PLA will be a totally different outfit in 5 years.
this is a good topic for author to explore.
Johnny
From article- “‘On the basis of China’s conditions, we’ve made a solemn declaration that we’ll not employ a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation…Following our own path and building socialism with Chinese characteristics is…the only correct road to development and progress for our country.’”
I don’t know if it is good for China’s development or not but it is *definitely* good for CCP.
No multi-party system means Hu and his lackeys will continue to hold power ad nauseum ad infinitium.. unless ofcourse people gently kick them out. Lets wait and watch…
Grant
There is some change-over in leadership, Hu Jintao and Wen Xiaoping (among others) will be stepping down in 2012. However the replacements are all going to be good conservative* communists so that’s not really democracy as much as a rotating oligarchy.
*Conservative as in hostile to different political thought and preferring the old system, not as in North American right-wing.
david
Maybe it is good for china at present, and a stable society is essential for china’s development. But in the long run, i think china should and will adopt the multi-party system ,and it will be decided by the chinese people instead of CCP leadership at that time.
Hu’s on first?
“Hu and his lackeys will continue to hold power”
Hu is leaving next year. China goes through a leadership transition every 10 years. The CCP is extremely corrupt, but not everything is a massive conspiracy by the CCP, as some of your rants imply.
Bill
China might only have “one party”, but the factions within it are basically parties in themselves. The only difference between these Chinese factions/parties within the Communist party and the West’s “multiple parties” are that they present a united front once their internal debates are over. In the west they don’t stop sniping at each other even if a decision has already been made and so any wounds that may have opened up during the debating process never gets a chance to close, to the point that it could spread to the general population and fester into what China is afraid of… chaos.
Peter Kuo
It’s clear that such a political move would cause havoc amongst the provinces. This is precisely why China cannot convert so rapidly. I am aware of the issues, and the comparison to the west is the same, I haven’t heard voices from the ‘middle classes’ in the west who are being squeezed just as hard. For example in the UK the NHS reform is frightening, and the politicians are treading on eggshells at the moment, hoping nothing will happen. Imagine a ‘tea and biscuit’ revolution in England?
James Kennedy
According to tianming (天命), a legitimate government in China is basically any government that does a good job. So Wu Bangguo is just giving his party a pat on the back. “废话,” I say.
The presence of corruption shows that the CPC still isn’t operating in top gear. The world’s largest political party is already making economic and social improvements of magical proportions. Just imagine how much they could dazzle us if only they were far more efficient…