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

In building socialist political democracy, China has always adhered to the basic principle that the Marxist theory of democracy be combined with the reality of China, borrowed from the useful achievements of the political civilization of mankind, including Western democracy, and assimilated the democratic elements of China's traditional culture and institutional civilization. Therefore, China's socialist political democracy shows distinctive Chinese characteristics.

- China's democracy is a people's democracy under the leadership of the CPC. Without the Communist Party there would be no New China. Nor would there be people's democracy. This is a fact that has been borne out by history. The Chinese people won the right to be masters of the state only after many years of arduous struggle under the leadership of the CPC. The democratic political system in China was established by the Chinese people led by the CPC. The development and improvement of this system are also carried out under the CPC's leadership. The leadership of CPC is a fundamental guarantee for the Chinese people to be masters in managing the affairs of their own country.

- China's democracy is a democracy in which the overwhelming majority of the people act as masters of state affairs. That the people are the masters is the quintessence of China's socialist democracy. In China, the publicly owned sector of the economy is the economic foundation of China's socialist system. In the primary stage of socialism, the state persists in the basic economic system with public ownership playing a dominant role and diverse forms of ownership developing side by side and the distribution system in which to each according to his work is predominant while other forms of distribution exist side by side. This ensures, from the perspective of economic foundation, that China's democracy will not be manipulated by capital; it is not a democracy for a small number of people, but one for the overwhelming majority of the people. In China, people enjoying the democratic rights include everyone who has not been deprived of political rights by law.

- China's democracy is a democracy guaranteed by the people's democratic dictatorship. Under the people's democratic dictatorship, on the one hand, democracy of the widest scope is practiced among the people, human rights are respected and ensured, and state power is in the hands of the people and serves the interests of the people. On the other, criminal activities, such as sabotage of the socialist system, endangering state security and public security, infringement on citizens' rights of the person or their democratic rights, embezzlement, bribery and dereliction of duty, are penalized according to law so as to safeguard the fundamental interests of the broad masses.

- China's democracy is a democracy with democratic centralism as the basic organizational principle and mode of operation. Democratic centralism is the fundamental principle of organization and leadership of state power in China. When democratic centralism is practiced, it requires that we give full play to democracy and discuss matters of concern collectively, so that people's wishes and demands are fully expressed and reflected. Then, all the correct opinions are pooled, and decisions are made collectively so that the people's wishes and demands are realized and met. The practice of democratic centralism also requires that "the majority be respected while the minority is protected." We are against the anarchic call for "democracy for all," and against anybody placing his own will above that of the collective.

II. The CPC Led the People to Become Masters of the State

The CPC's leading status was established gradually in the protracted struggle and practice of the Chinese people in pursuing national independence, prosperity and a happy life. It was a choice made by history and by the people. The Chinese revolution, construction and reform have demonstrated to the world that it was the CPC that led the Chinese people to find the correct road to win national independence and liberation. It was the CPC that led the Chinese people to find the correct road to build China into a prosperous, democratic and civilized modern country. It is precisely because of this historical reason that the CPC's leading status is clearly described in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.

Today, the CPC's leadership and rule in China is an objective requirement of the country's development and progress.

- The CPC's leadership and rule is needed for promoting socialist modernization and realizing great national rejuvenation. It has been the aspiration and dream for the Chinese people to rid their country of its poor and backward outlook, and realize modernization and national rejuvenation over the past 100 years. Under the leadership of the CPC, after making a range of explorations and efforts over the past 56 years since the founding of New China, China has cast off its former state of abject poverty. Productivity has grown rapidly, overall national strength has increased greatly and people's life has improved markedly. China's international status has been elevated, and its international influence is increasing day by day. Especially in the 26 years since the initiation of the reform and opening-up policies, China has created an economic miracle - its GDP has been increasing at an average annual rate of 9.4 percent, and the general living standard of the 1.3 billion Chinese people has, in general, reached the moderately well-off level. It is the unswerving choice of the Chinese people to march toward the goal of prosperous, democratic, civilized socialist modernization under the leadership of the CPC.

- The CPC's leadership and rule is needed for safeguarding China's unification and keeping Chinese society harmonious and stable. History has proved time and again that, without the unification of the country and social stability, there will be no prosperity for the country, and the people will not be able to live and work in peace and contentment. Foreign invasions, warlord rampages and political turmoil brought disaster after disaster to contemporary China. That period of history left an indelible impression on the memory of the Chinese people. The unification and stability of China is a blessing for the Chinese people. It is also in keeping with the interests of the people of all other countries in the world. To safeguard the country's unification and social stability has always been a matter of paramount importance at which the people of all ethnic groups in China are most concerned. The CPC is the faithful representative of the fundamental interests of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups. Guided by scientific theories, with the support of nearly 3,500,000 Party organizations and 69,600,000 Party members and based on its rich experience in exercising state power and its capability in controlling the overall situation, the CPC has been planning as a whole social and economic development and making efforts to build a harmonious socialist society to safeguard the country's unification as well as social harmony and stability.