Op-Ed Contributors

Party opens democracy window

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

The Party's collective leadership, from the second-generation with Deng Xiaoping as the core, the third-generation with Jiang Zemin at its core, to today's CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as the General Secretary, have all been fully aware that the objective is consistent with China's transformation from a highly centralized planned economy to a dynamic socialist market economy, and from a closed approach to being more open to the outside world.

This will not only help the Party mature, but will also help significantly in reforming China's political system.

The high-profile group appearance of the CPC Central Committee department spokespersons has heightened public expectations about such reform.

First, the move will evolve into a model that encourages local Party committees at various levels to establish and improve the spokesperson system.

Second, it can help create a good environment for intra-party democratic discussion and supervision, and is also conducive to protecting the democratic rights of its nearly 80 million members and encouraging them to speak the truth.

Third, by using today's well-developed media, it can facilitate effective communication between the Party and the public.

Fourth, the move will benefit the battle against corruption, especially the power-for-money deals and nepotism in personnel matters that the public utterly detests.

Fifth, it has a self-evident effect in promoting the nation's political transparency, which is part of political reform.

The spokesperson system signals that the CPC decision-makers have abandoned old patterns of thinking and are now of the view that transparency will aid governance in the information era.

Certainly, there is still a long way to go before the spokesperson system can play its assigned role. It is easy to appoint spokespersons, but to allow them to function effectively is not one that can be accomplished in one stroke.

The bureaucratic approach taken by some Party and government officials should be thoroughly discouraged. During news conferences, officials must never think that communicating with the reporters is mere formality.

Appointing spokespersons is a good beginning, and more such moves will hopefully follow.

The author is a researcher at the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies.

(China Daily 07/09/2010 page8)