My opinion about China's democracy

markwu  Updated: 2004-05-19 09:17

I believe what China is doing now and even in the past is being done with responsibility to the nation and to the people. I don't think it is wise to implement democracy to China now in the way it is understood in those western countries which say they champion it theoretically but when they apply it, it becomes a lobbyist machine that doesn't spread out the good to those who need it the most. You know the old saying, of/by/for-the-people? Most of the democracies stop at 'of'. Full stop!

China has a different complexion; its scale, demographics, educational, social and material levels of its vast number of people, even the differences of its provinces, each of which is like a separate country, create a complex state; compound this complexity with its culture, philosophical, economic and political past, a history which was almost torn asunder by external forces, and we should think it through again.

Maybe people outside think it's like fast-food; it may create indigestion instead. Better take it step by step.

What would have happened if Tiananmen had ruptured the entire nation and suddenly you have conflagrations and break-downs all over the country? Would China not then be broken up like what happened with glasnost applied to the USSR? Would the west be then able to enjoy what they're enjoying now, a strong and stable roll-out of post-WTO win-win synergies?

Somehow, I suspect these are questions people have not asked when they talk with their micro-views on the democratization of a socialist state as big and as deep as China.

I understand that when asked by the French whether he thought the French revolution had any effect on France, Zhou EnLai replied, "too early to tell." Maybe it's too early to tell for the democratization of China. People who say it's not fast enough have perhaps not taken into account that China's history spreads back some 5,000 years.

A bit more time for the economy to progress, society to grow and learn, people to have food and comfort, industries to develop more jobs and soon enough a new China will emerge with a scintillating world-role. Perhaps even with its own form of democracy.

My small contribution today....

The above content represents the view of the author only.

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