China holds democracy conference, sets up global network

An international forum on democracy attended by global experts has concluded in Beijing, with the launch of a global think tank on democracy.

The 'International Forum on Democracy: The Shared Human Values', ran from Dec 4 to 15, bringing together 500 guests from 120 countries and regions as well as 20 international organizations both online and on-site to discuss democracy.

At the forum's closing ceremony on Wednesday, a global think tank network for democracy studies was launched, with the participation of 40 research institutes from China and abroad, including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The network also launched the Beijing Initiative, calling for the need to respect diversity in models of civilization and democracy, to measure democracy by its practical results and people's feelings, and to oppose confrontation and division in the name of democracy.

Du Zhanyuan, president of the China International Communications Group, said that although it is a shared human value and goal, democracy has never been easy to achieve.

"There are no ready models to copy from, and countries must explore their own paths by drawing on the shared wisdom of Eastern and Western civilizations," Du said.

In the spirit of people-centered governance, the Communist Party of China has created whole-process people's democracy, and its achievements in modernizing China's governance system and capacity have been outstanding, he said.

Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, said the CPC's leadership and organizational capacity is the common root of China winning the war to contain COVID-19 and eradicating extreme poverty.

"This remarkable parallelism is a probative insight into China's Party-led governance system," he said.