Grassroots representatives of Hongqiao subdistrict in Shanghai discuss draft amendments to Sports Law on Nov 26. Local neighborhoods act as a liaison center for people’s congresses to seek feedback on state affairs. (LIU YING / XINHUA)

The State Council Information Office issued a white paper “China: Democracy That Works” on Dec 4, which notes that there is more than one path to democracy and there are many ways to achieve it.

The paper also says whether a country is democratic should be judged by its people, not dictated by a handful of outsiders, and acknowledged by the international community rather than arbitrarily decided by a few self-appointed judges.

Analysts have lauded the white paper, saying it dispels the notion that there is a universal type of democracy and that it presents China’s whole-process people’s democracy as a true and most suitable form in the country’s context.

Carlos Martinez, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, said the white paper provides a detailed insight into China’s own democratic system at a time when the United States and its allies are making a big push to promote Western capitalist democracy as the only legitimate form of governance.

“Many in the West, having been told for so long that China is ‘undemocratic’ and ‘authoritarian’, will be surprised to find out that China has an extensive system of electoral representation at every level of society,” said Martinez, whose organization along with others will hold a virtual Summit for Socialist Democracy on Dec 11.

Democracy is a common value of humanity and an ideal pursued by ancient civilizations including China and cherished by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people, the white paper said.

According to the document, China did not duplicate Western models of democracy, but created its own, and its original aspiration was to ensure the people’s status as masters of the country.

Unlike in the West, China’s electoral democracy is not manipulated by financial interests, said Martinez. “Electoral campaigns are not high-budget marketing exercises, and people get elected on the basis of their record of serving the people.”

He noted that the white paper says there is no one-size-fits-all approach to democracy. “It therefore does not attempt to universalize China’s democratic model, but it does forcefully reject the attempts by the Western capitalist countries to universalize their model.”

China built and developed whole-process people’s democracy in line with its national conditions, the white paper said, noting it involves complete institutional procedures and covers various fields.

Whole-process people’s democracy is a combination of electoral democracy and consultative democracy, and is applied through a combination of elections, consultations, decision-making, management and oversight, it said, adding it has been fully tested through wide participation.

Dennis Munene, executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute, said the white paper “captures China’s principle of democratic centralism that demystifies the naysayers and liberal democrats who have a narrow and misconceived understanding of what a people-centered and progressive democracy within a civilized state entails”.

As a blueprint that is “timely, factual and one rooted in history”, the white paper underscores China’s working democracy that integrates both the electoral and consultative systems of democracy to meet the aspirations of its 1.4 billion people representing 56 ethnic groups, he said.

Munene said the misconception of China being a one-party state has finally been nullified. The white paper affirms the political system of China — a people-centered democracy — as one anchored on multiparty cooperation and not a one-party system as propagated by China critics.

“The eight other political parties in China are not opposition parties, but cooperate closely and participate fully in the administration of State affairs under the leadership of the CPC as its advisors and assistants,” Munene said. “China’s political system is about development and prosperity of the people and not about competition and power gratification.”

“There is much greater democracy in China than in many countries that claim to be democratic countries,” said Munshi Faiz Ahmad, former chairman of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies and a former Bangladeshi ambassador to China.

“Why? That’s because democracy is measured in terms of people’s consent, people’s supervision, people’s participation and people’s welfare. Looking at all these criteria, I think China is perhaps more democratic than many of the so-called democracies.”

The white paper, which highlights many important points, illustrates democracy with Chinese characteristics, said Ahmad.

“The important thing about it is that it is both process-oriented, as well as results-oriented,” he explained. “It’s procedural as well as substantive.”

Karori Singh, an emeritus fellow at the University of Rajasthan in India, said the paper defines China’s governance pattern as whole-process people’s democracy based on a “sound institutional framework” and “concrete and pragmatic practices”, which efficiently operates in the Chinese context.

He said that people’s democracy in China is the composite of five main aspects — expanding democratic participation, efficient national governance, social stability and harmony, effective constraint, and supervision of the exercise of power.

“Besides the elections and democratic consultation, there are adequate mechanisms for democratic decision-making, democratic management and democratic oversight, including supervisory commissions and judicial supervision,” he said.

“That is why people’s democracy works effectively to enable people’s rights and overcome extreme poverty in a time-bound framework.”

To think that democracy is an invention of the West is erroneous, Singh said. “It is rather an institutional evolutionary process in the long history of human civilizations.”

Senior Chinese officials, in introducing the white paper said China’s democracy, which is characterized by wide participation and strong oversight, is more extensive, more genuine and more effective than the US version.

When asked which style of democracy is better, Chinese or US, Tian Peiyan, deputy head of Policy Research Office with the CPC Central Committee, answered that China’s “practice is the most convincing” argument.

He said under the US democratic system, politicians are agents of interest groups, rather than representing the interests of the majority of voters and the country.

“Those politicians can randomly make promises for the sake of elections, but they seldom fulfill the promises after being elected,” Tian said. “Superficially, they accept voters’ supervision, but when they’re elected, the voters have no option but to wait for the next election.

“It’s a democracy that is only awakened during voting but becomes dormant after voting, and it’s also a democracy where voters listen to dazzling slogans only during the election but have no say after the election,” he said, adding that such democracy is not a real democracy.

China’s democracy, however, is a whole-process people’s democracy under the CPC’s leadership, he said.

Party members and officials at all levels must accept the process and supervision by the CPC and the people while performing their duties to ensure the power granted by the people is always used for serving the people’s interest.

“Any violation of Party disciplines and laws must be punished, no matter how senior the violator is or how high his or her social status is. No one is an exception,” Tian said.

He emphasized that deputies to people’s congresses, China’s legislative bodies, are from the people and elected by the people. Therefore, they represent the people, serve the people and should be responsible for the people, he said.

“The deputies have always kept close contact with the public, listening to people’s requests, striving to solve their problems and receiving their supervision in all areas,” he added. “Deputies who don’t perform their duties or violate disciplines or laws can be disqualified or removed from office.”

Guo Zhenhua, deputy secretary-general of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the country’s top legislature, pointed out that the behavior of US politicians before and after elections changes due to the lack of a supervisory mechanism after they take office.

“But in China, both the Constitution and the Electoral Law stipulate that deputies to the NPC and local people’s congresses must be supervised by voters and the original electoral units,” he said. “Voters or original electoral units have the right to recall elected representatives.”

Since the 13th NPC was established in 2018, a total of 10 NPC deputies have been dismissed, Guo noted.

Xu Lin, director of the State Council Information Office, said the US’ so-called “Summit for Democracy” on Dec 9-10 actually intends to contain and suppress countries that have social systems and development models different from that of the US.

In a widely diverse world, democracy comes in many forms, he said, adding that China has always been receptive to any type of democracy and given respect to efforts to explore and pursue different models.

Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University in Thailand, said the white paper rebuts criticism of China by Western countries, which argue that infrastructure construction projects launched by China around the world will undermine recipient countries’ democracy. On the contrary, the paper shows that China makes no effort to impose its ideas of democracy on other countries.

Instead, he added, it gives emphasis to “stability” and “harmony”, which is characteristic of Chinese policy, and helps society maintain order and achieve progress.

Looking at how people participate in many aspects of Chinese society, the mechanism of democracy can be seen at the very local level, Titipol said.

Contact the writers at vivienxu@chinadailyapac.com