CHINA> Human Rights Progress
White paper on political democracy
(china.org.cn)
Updated: 2005-10-19 11:01

Conclusion

China's socialist political democracy has enabled the Chinese people, who account for one fifth of the world's population, to become masters of their own country and society, and enjoy extensive democratic rights. This is a great contribution to the development of the political civilization of mankind.

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 universall y 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.