Western form of democracy not a universal choice

Three articles published in People's Daily and posted on its website recently are critical of Western-style democracy and US-style freedom of the press. The articles are part of an official campaign in defense of the system of government in China, which overseas observers often describe in negative terms.

The authors of the articles are three relatively young theorists. They have contended that Western-style democracy is by no means the conclusive format of democracy and shouldn't have been sold for universal application, and that the press freedom the US preaches has never been put into serious practice in that country.

Liu Jie, director of the Institute of Politics and Public Administration Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, says that since the 2008 global financial crisis and the unsuccessful "revolution"in or "liberation"of one country after another in the past couple of years, doubts have risen over the benefits of Western democracy.