Op-Ed Contributors

Party opens democracy window

By Qin Xiaoying (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-09 07:51

Spokesperson system for CPC Central Committee departments marks definite progress in nation's political reform agenda

It is common knowledge that the Communist Party of China (CPC) is the nation's sole ruling party.

Over the past three decades, the Party has led millions of Chinese out of poverty after the reform and opening-up policy led to massive economic development.

This progress has piqued the interest of the international community in the CPC, which has been in power for more than 60 years.

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The "mystique" surrounding the CPC has also triggered curiosity in foreigners.

Once, a New Zealander working in China told me that it was a mystery why phone numbers of CPC committee offices at various levels, which exercise great authority, are unavailable in the Yellow Pages.

It was even more difficult to get the office addresses of specific Beijing-based CPC departments. This certainly bewildered him, he said.

Nowadays that veil of mystery seems to be finally lifting.

As many as 11 CPC Central Committee department spokespersons made an unprecedented group debut on June 30 to meet domestic and foreign journalists, and gave out their office phone numbers for the first time.

This indicates that the CPC Central Committee departments have gradually come out of the shadows. It also shows the Party's determination to show how it operates behind closed doors.

In fact, promoting transparency in Party affairs has been an important objective for the Party ever since the reform and opening-up, especially from the 17th CPC National Congress session onwards.

Even during the time of Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's reform policies, the CPC had wanted to transform as quickly as possible from a revolutionary party to one that had become the ruling party.

The core task was to persist in and constantly promote democracy both internally and externally, improve the Party's governance capability and combat corruption under the watchful eyes of Party members and non-Party authorities.

One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by making Party affairs public and publicizing the framework and rules of the Party's power exercise in a transparent manner.