Chinese Communists flirt with democracy to infuse fresh blood

[R.A.W.]

BEIJING: China is celebrating 60 years of the Communist revolution with an ironical twist. Communist leaders feel it is time to flirt with
democracy. But it will remain a limited form of coquetry with little chance of blossoming into a full-fledged romance any time soon.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee has decided to "expand intra-Party democracy to develop people's democracy" and resolutely fight corruption. Party leaders called for improving "the democratic decision-making mechanism within the Party in order to maintain the CPC's centralization and unity," the party organ, People's Daily said.

Stated simply, Communist leaders are trying to create safety valves within the system to allow the youthful sections in the party to voice their opinion while ensuring they do not become rebels. There is also an attempt to choose a new set of "professional" leaders, which might result in some older leaders being shown the door.

The CPC said in a communiqué that it has given itself a set of "long-term, complicated and draconian tests" to judge its ruling capability in this era of wide spread reforms and adoption of a market economy system.

In fact, the CPC made no bones of the fact that it is worried about quite a few problems in the party "that ran counter to new circumstances and the Party's nature". These problems are "severely weakening the Party's creativity, unity and effectiveness," it said in a communiqué based on decisions taken at a meeting on Friday.

The party must "stick to a democratic, open, competitive, credible, merit-based and vigorous mechanism of selecting party officials in order to foster more excellent cadres" it said. The CPC wants the party officials to be "revolutionary, young, knowledge-based and professional", it said.

At the same time, every effort will be made to ensure that the role of the senior leaders and the party congress is not undermined. It has been made clear that the ultimate goal is to make sure that CPC's control over the vast network of Communist functionaries do not falter with changing times, sources pointed out.

Internal democracy was "the lifeblood of the party," it said while advising members to stick to "democratic centralism," with democracy as a base and centralism as a guide. Improvements will be carried out in the process of internal elections to "extensively absorb the will and views of all Party members and bring their initiative and creativity to a full play," the document said.

Party leaders said the challenge of managing the party has never been more onerous and pressing as it is today. Defects within the party were "severely" harming the ties of flesh and blood between the Party and people, it said.

The CPC told party members to be prepared for dangers in times of peace and make sure that the party's "backbone" position in people's minds is not affected in the face of different challenges in the domestic and international situations.

Grassroots organizations were the foundation of the entire Party work and acted as "fighting bastions" in implementing the CPC policies, the document said suggesting that more attention will be paid to provincial and county leaders than in the part.


Chinese Communists flirt with democracy to infuse fresh blood - China - World - NEWS - The Times of India

 

[oct605032048]

the party has nothing to with the communism except its name.

 

[R.A.W.]

the party has nothing to with the communism except its name.

No offense intended
Sir can you please give some logic behind having press and judiciary controlled by government. How is it justified. Like suppose if some corrupt leader comes to power in China he can mould the rights of people in his own ways and will be able to exercise control over judiciary. Without free media perception of the chinese people can be very curbed as per the needs of the state.

What I expect is like what are the advantages of the Chinese form of governance over democracy?

 

[oct605032048]

communism and the planned economy theory goes with is had been proved to be less competitive than the free market economy. soviet union spent 60years to find the truth but it is too late for them to make any change to save the regime. but chinese leaders after mao's death gradually changed their direction to a more marketing domain economy system while maintaining the political stability. that is the reformation started 30 years ago.

basically speaking, this reformation is very successful. the economy growth annually 9%,that means individual income would double in every 7 years. when it comes to this authority, which i mean president hu and premier wen, the economic grows at over 10% a year for almost 7years, and people's wages even doubled in five years. No one wants to change this trend of economic growth.

 

[oct605032048]

yes, as you said, there are many corruptions and manipulating of jurisdiction. and of course we don't pleased by such evil and ugly facts of this govn. but i take it as a inevitable byproduct of progressing. thirty years ago, there were far less corruption than today, but people's life were poor. so if you let people choose they would still support this govn, because it can bring growth and stability.

to further explain the latter, i can take the rescue of sichuan earthquack and the recently morrak typhoon for example. the premier went to the center of earth quack right after the tragidy, and summoned 100 thousand soldiers to the striken region in one week. also the same typhoon that striked both taiwan and fujian(a province across the straight), over 800 died in taiwan but only 8 died in fujian, of which 3 were officers in their urgent mission to help people migrate.

let's come back to corruption. there is no between corruption and authoritarian. singapore is an example and no offense but india serves as a counterexample.

 

[R.A.W.]

communism and the planned economy theory goes with is had been proved to be less competitive than the free market economy. soviet union spent 60years to find the truth but it is too late for them to make any change to save the regime. but chinese leaders after mao's death gradually changed their direction to a more marketing domain economy system while maintaining the political stability. that is the reformation started 30 years ago.

basically speaking, this reformation is very successful. the economy growth annually 9%,that means individual income would double in every 7 years. when it comes to this authority, which i mean president hu and premier wen, the economic grows at over 10% a year for almost 7years, and people's wages even doubled in five years. No one wants to change this trend of economic growth.

I do understand this thing and really appreciate the growth of economy. But what are the advantages as I stated in my previous post.... Current leaders are not going to remain forever and in case if some one corrupt comes to power(which always have a high probability in politics.) then he can very well use the laws as per his will and take the Chinese people as hostages to the government policies with no authority to oppose the government officially. What are the measures to keep the government in check.

 

[R.A.W.]

Everyone knows democracy is nice,as the toppest leader is directly powered by the masses,CCP of China knows that too,democracy will be eventually realized in China one day.

What China mostly needs currently is development,if China implements the so-called western direct election nationally now,China's political system will be jeopadized seriously,as China has various ethnics,vast land,economical unbalance from regions to regions,election will definitely lead to chaos,unrest ,and even splitting....

I personally think China's on the right track to proceed now,i don't think only the mass-elected president has the power to govern a big country.

But will not China be in a much bigger chaos then this if some one actually tries to manipulate the laws as per his own will? Will China be not on verge of collapse in that case.... Policies and decision are good today does not guarantee that they will remain so forever. Like for example when ever a decision is taken in India the ruling party always has a opposition against the decisions so any decisions needs to convincingly strong before being implemented. But if there was no opposition the ruling party would be free to implement anything.

Even free judiciary guarantees citizens power to go against the decisons taken by government. But if the government is influential in the judiciary then eventually citizens loose their rights

 

[oct605032048]

back to your first question, the legitimacy of this government is formally garentteed by constitution and laws, by complex procidure of vote and national people's congress.

but the virtual and essencial garanty of this legitamacy is the will and ability to provide public goods such as national security and social order as well as economic growth.

 

[oct605032048]

But will not China be in a much bigger chaos then this if some one actually tries to manipulate the laws as per his own will? Will China be not on verge of collapse in that case.... Policies and decision are good today does not guarantee that they will remain so forever. .

you still didnt get what i mean. a corrupted but capable(to provide growth and stability) leader and a stupid clean-handed leader, i would choose the first one.

china was in a much bigger chaos in the last ten years of mao's time. so we learned from that, the party leaders all learned from that, actually the second and third generation of leadership were all the victims of such chaos.

no one in china today have the prestige or ability to manipulate legal and political system at his will as chairman mao once had. from mao to deng to jiang and to hu, the usage of leader's power has more and more restrictions, including constitution, party constitution, laws and written and unwritten regulations.

no one can openly challange people's will. take the green dam software for example, the bureaucracy of industrial ministry has to withdraw their proposal in front of nation wide opposition. this interaction mode may not enable us to the american type of demorcracy in one giant leap, but is strong enough to push the country in the right way.

 

[grey boy 2]

But will not China be in a much bigger chaos then this if some one actually tries to manipulate the laws as per his own will? Will China be not on verge of collapse in that case.... Policies and decision are good today does not guarantee that they will remain so forever. Like for example when ever a decision is taken in India the ruling party always has a opposition against the decisions so any decisions needs to convincingly strong before being implemented. But if there was no opposition the ruling party would be free to implement anything.

Even free judiciary guarantees citizens power to go against the decisons taken by government. But if the government is influential in the judiciary then eventually citizens loose their rights

R.A.W. ; You need to understand China was not run by a few leaders.

Chinese Government and structure

Check this out, it will give you some idea.

 

[Join]

 

[oct605032048]

as you said about comparing different govn. type between countries, you need to know people are different in characteristics. american people prefer a president, but japanese admire their emperor.

i acknowledge indian people's proud and achievement of your democracy,but chinese people worries more about how to earn more money to raise the family and to save for their retire life, how to make their kids to study in a better kid-garten to get a good start in the fiece competition of national college admition test, and even to study abrord, how to buy a apartment in big cities at price of 2000$ per sqr meter.

the type of democracy american or indian people have can't be eaten like bread and beef.

 

[praveen]

you still didnt get what i mean. a corrupted but capable(to provide growth and stability) leader and a stupid clean-handed leader, i would choose the first one.

china was in a much bigger chaos in the last ten years of mao's time. so we learned from that, the party leaders all learned from that, actually the second and third generation of leadership were all the victims of such chaos.

no one in china today have the prestige or ability to manipulate legal and political system at his will as chairman mao once had. from mao to deng to jiang and to hu, the usage of leader's power has more and more restrictions, including constitution, party constitution, laws and written and unwritten regulations.

no one can openly challange people's will. take the green dam software for example, the bureaucracy of industrial ministry has to withdraw their proposal in front of nation wide opposition. this interaction mode may not enable us to the american type of demorcracy in one giant leap, but is strong enough to push the country in the right way.

I have a few questions

a)If the CCP derive legitimacy through economic growth?What if there are hiccups in the Path

b)Does the CCP have leaders in Deng's and Mao's mould.If they are there do they have the charisma of the long march generation?I heard nowadays you mostly have colourless technocrats?Is that true

c)Is the CCP anywhere ready to share power with say a other party?

d)Is it true that unless you are a memeber of the politbureau or Central Military Commission you are considered a lightweight in the CCP

e)Does the CCP have power struggles any more?

 

[applesauce]

I have a few questions

a)If the CCP derive legitimacy through economic growth?What if there are hiccups in the Path

b)Does the CCP have leaders in Deng's and Mao's mould.If they are there do they have the charisma of the long march generation?I heard nowadays you mostly have colourless technocrats?Is that true

c)Is the CCP anywhere ready to share power with say a other party?

d)Is it true that unless you are a memeber of the politbureau or Central Military Commission you are considered a lightweight in the CCP

e)Does the CCP have power struggles any more?

let me share what i know(or think i know)

a) generally the people have faith in the CCP and they have managed this current economical crisis very well, i believe if there are hiccups the people will allow time for the CCP to fix the problem, again many though that the unemployment rate in china would cause great problems due to the current crisis, but angre jobless mobs have largely not bear fruit and the economy is better now, though it is always difficult to predict the future we can only cite past and current examples.

b) first of all you must know that deng and mao are difference, in fact mao was able to oust deng for a while. but anyways there are always the conservative fractions but right now they are definitely in the minority. these are the people who want to go back to being like the soviets even though ussr collapsed. thus these current conservatives absolutely do not have the ability to gather political power like the long march generation or have much appeal to very many people.
the trend in chinese leadership is like this, 1st gen like mao are the revolutionaries who brought the PRC into being, 2nd gen are the people who were involved in the revolution but started the market oriented economy change like deng
3nd gen are the likes of jiang zemin which brought the first split of leadership from the military
4th gen is the current liek hu who are mostly engineers and most was affected by the cultural revolution
in the 5th gen many notice that most potential leaders in china have a background in law and other softer sciences

d) no

e)ever since dengs time the top people in china have tried to figure out a safe way of transferring power to prevent things like the gang of four from rising and preventing anyone from forming a cult of personality(like mao did leading to cultural revolution among other things). that has mostly been successful as next generation of leaders are picked by current group of leaders. process goes a little liek this, they spot talented people in lower younger ranks, then they slowly put these people in power, governing towns , states, and other posts to gain expirence and see how they do. in the end the group makes a decision and everyone agrees thus no bickering. leadership is not a one man job anymore, hasnt been for a while the top power is shared among a group of people who are voted via inner party elections. thus the top people in china are the capable ones you cant get there by relationship alone, and they dont have all the power it is shared among many poeple and unlike the soviets where the only way out is purges or death, there is a mandatory retirement age in the CCP thus the older generation cannot just hold on to power long past their time like mao did.

 

[SinoIndusFriendship]

Let's put it this way:

The chances that the CCP will lose control of the nation is such that the USA and Europe descends in a flaming sea of chaos and destruction first. Truth is this, if China falls into chaos it will drag the whole world with it --- BUT, if Europe or USA falls into chaos, China will be okay.