Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang addresses an online event on Sept 23. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
China’s ambassador to the United States said his country applies democratic concepts differently but rejected the portrayal of the nation as authoritarian.
In an online discussion on Sept 23,
hosted by the Carter Center and the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations (Bush China Foundation), Ambassador Qin Gang spoke extensively on the Chinese concept of democracy.
“A fundamental (misunderstanding) is to define America’s relations with China as democracy versus authoritarianism, and to stoke up ideological confrontation, which has led to serious difficulties in China-US relations,” Qin said.
China is a democracy in a different form, the ambassador said, and the Communist Party of China was founded for the poor with people in mind.
Today’s China enjoys a whole-process democracy, he said. People have the right to election. People’s Congress from local level to national level is similar to US state legislatures and Congress.
Deputies are directly elected to the people’s congresses at the county level. Those above the county level are indirectly elected. In addition, China has a unique “political consultation system” for the people to exercise democracy.
Using the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) as an example, Qin said more than 1,000 suggestions were summarized from more than 1 million online posts with further adjustments made after deliberations by the national-level people’s congress and Political Consultation Conference.
China’s model of democracy has produced good results, Qin said. A 10-year survey by the Harvard Kennedy School has shown that the Chinese people’s satisfaction with the CPC has been above 90 percent for each of the past 10 years.
“Isn’t it obvious that both China’s people-centered philosophy and (former US) President (Abraham) Lincoln’s ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ are for the sake of the people? Shall we understand China’s socialist whole-process democracy as this: from the people, to the people, with the people, for the people?” Qin asked.
Qin said he is worried about the US’ approaches to relations with China, especially ideological barriers and the zero-sum mentality. “Competition on the US side often takes the form of confrontation, especially on major issues concerning China’s core interests. If this does not change, it will undermine China’s effort to promote our mutual trust and cooperation,” said Qin.
In a letter to the online event, former US president Jimmy Carter expressed the hope that “this meeting will steer US-China relations in a more amicable direction in the years to come”.
The conversation was joined by about 10 individuals, including scholars, former diplomats, experts in US-China relations and people who have engaged with China extensively.
The ongoing difficulties in the bilateral relationship and the hope for improvement were at the center of the online conversation.
Neil Bush, chairman of the Bush China Foundation, said the two largest economies need to cooperate on things like climate change, green development, food security, poverty alleviation, responses to current and future pandemics, and all issues related to everything digital.
