Confidence in China's democracy

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-13 08:01

Editor's note: This the second and concluding part of the interview of Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Hongbo published by the German newspaper Die Welt, including on its website, on Sept 22 and Oct 2.

Q: It is said that China is not a country with full press freedom and reporters are subject to strict supervision and restrictions. Some reporters were even taken into custody. In China, access to Internet is also monitored. Is this a reflection of the ruling Communist Party being not confident enough about media reports?

A: Well, press freedom is always a hot topic. Some argue that such freedom obtains in China while others deny it. I would like to talk about this problem from an different perspective. In May last year, an institution from Maryland University in the US conducted a poll in more than 20 countries including the US and China. The survey showed that 89 percent of the respondents in China believe there is press freedom in their country. Among them, 12 percent think China has full press freedom, 26 percent confirm there is press freedom in China while 51 percent say the existing press freedom in China needs further improvement. Therefore, we can come to two conclusions: the majority of Chinese believe there is press freedom in China and people have different perceptions of the yardstick of press freedom.

It is interesting that the opinion poll by the university noted that 22 percent of the respondents think that there should be less of such freedom in the US, which proves that people have different opinions on press freedom in their own countries.

I can also give you an example about China's progress in press freedom. In 2003, a college graduate died in a custody and repatriation center (C&R) after being detained for being without a temporary living permit and an identification card. China's C&R system is an administrative procedure under which people can be detained and repatriated if they did not have a residence permit or temporary living permit. The official at the detention center said this was a case of natural death while the investigative reporters of the local Southern Metropolitan Daily disclosed that he was beaten to death, which was later confirmed by the local authorities. The official responsible for the case was then punished while all the C&R stations across the country were dissolved, after the case received massive attention in newspapers and on the Internet in China. Such media-promoted reform and progress can usually be seen in China.

Q: Mr. Ambassador, before assuming office in Germany, you had said that you are very interested in Germany's general election. What is your impression of the election?

A: I have never worked in a European country before coming to Germany. Ahead of the local general election, each party would canvass their political policies with the public, from which I can develop an awareness of German society in a short time. Moreover, a government change may bring about changes in a country's foreign policy. As Chinese Ambassador to Germany, I also pay attention to the candidates' views on international affairs, especially on China. I hope, after the new federal government was set up, Sino-German relations can still maintain a stable and sound momentum, which is in the interest of both peoples and world peace and development.

Q: It is said that no ruling party would like to admit to mistakes in its policies in public. What is the relevant situation in China?

A: The Chinese government and our ruling party have been rethinking our experience of the past 60 years. As you know, China has undergone the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) in the 20th century. But later, we publicly acknowledged our mistake and corrected it, resulting in the reform and opening up in 1978. There is a special arrangement among China's top leaders - that they should regularly attend lectures given by China's best specialists and scholars. In June, scholars gave a lecture on promoting intra-Party democracy at the 14th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. The reason for China's achievement in the past 60 years is that the ruling party persists in continuous study and has the courage to correct mistakes.

Q: Has China tried to conduct direct election of officials at the regional level?

A: The question you have raised is very important. Some people think that there is no democracy in China or that China refuses to embrace democracy. You can do a little hard thinking about how China could score such great achievements if it was governed by an autocratic ruling party for 60 years.

The word "democracy" appears more than 60 times in the report of the 17th National Congress of the CPC, and Party leaders vowed to enhance intra-Party democracy to drive "people's democracy", as well as social democracy. Here I can cite some examples to show how China's democracy has progressed.

In Nanjing, capital of China's Jiangsu province, there are 363 district-level CPC committees formed as a result of direct elections. Many other Chinese cities are also acting positively. Maybe you will say that this is an issue within the CPC with little relation to the people. I can tell you of two other cases.

There are about 800 million farmers living under more than 600,000 village administrations in the nation. We started direct elections of village committee members 10 years ago. And until this year, 95 percent of the 2.30 million village-level cadres were elected directly.

In cities, people manage their own affairs through residents' committees. There are more than 80,000 urban residents' committees, of which 22 percent were elected directly. And the ratio will be raised to 50 percent next year.

Besides, in some cities, before appointing new officials, records and pictures of the candidates are publicized for people's scrutiny. If the candidate was mentioned in any complaint, he or she would have to put off taking office, and would be subject to inspection.

Let me draw a road map of the progress of China's democracy. First, China's democracy is developing and will record further achievements with Chinese characteristics just as China's economic system did. Second, the process of democracy would be promoted step by step and in accordance with China's national conditions. Third, China's democracy originated from rural and urban grassroots level. The last and most important point is that China's democracy has been driven by the development of intra-Party democracy. I consider this process a great exploration and practice on the model of democracy implemented collectively by one-fifth of the world's population for the first time in the history of mankind.

We are fully confident of the prospects for development of China's democracy just as we were in the case of our economic reform.

Q: That is really a wonderful conclusion.

(China Daily 10/13/2009 page8)