Democracy should not be a U.S.-made Coca-Cola that tastes the same everywhere in the world, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday, stressing that there is not a fixed model for democracy. More on: https://www.cctvplus.com/news/20210821/8220126.shtml#!language=1 Welcome to subscribe us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsContent.CCTVPLUS Twitter: https://twitter.com/CCTV_Plus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cctv-news-content Video on Demand: www.cctvplus.com If you are in demand of this video footage, please contact with our business development team via email: [email protected]
  • FrogFractions [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    It’s not the 1960s anymore. Chinese democracy is more representative, responsive, and more power is locally devolved to communities than in the USA or any large western democracy.

    I wouldn’t even call the USA a democracy anymore due to how gamed it is. I definitely would call China a democracy.

    • NateNate60@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      I am a Chinese person.

      The traditional Western definition of a democracy is “a form of government where power is vested in the people and expressed through elections”. By this definition, China is highly undemocratic because there aren’t genuine competitive elections on any level.

      The word “democracy” (民主) as used in Mainland China means “a system of government where leaders respond to the needs and demands of the people”. This is slightly different in that a government doesn’t need to be elected to be democratic, it just needs to be responsive to popular demand. China’s government, especially at local levels, is very responsive to local demands, even more so than in the USA (have experienced both personally). So by this slightly different definition, China is democratic.

      In Western political philosophy, China’s definition is actually “benevolent government”, not “democracy”. You can argue that being democratic would actually just be meaningless under the Western definitions if the government isn’t benevolent, and I would agree wholeheartedly. But unfortunately English sticks to the Western definitions which is why the statement “China is democratic” will raise eyebrows when said to a crowd of English speakers.

      • FrogFractions [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        No that’s some kind of internalized orientalism. When you say you’re Chinese do you perhaps mean an ethnically Chinese person from Taiwan?

        When I say China is Democratic I am referring to

        • their elections are not corrupt and reflect the votes of the communities
        • their elected officials have a high rate of turnover when compared to the west demonstrating the people are choosing and importantly changing their minds about who they want in power. Compare to the US where 90% of elections are not competitive and so it’s the political patronage network of the Dems or GOP that decide 90% of elections, before we even discuss how meaningful a choice the 2-party system offers
        • fully a third of elected officials are independents, and the faction system within the CPC plays the same function as party politics within the west
        • the faction system within the CPC is actually more diverse than the party system in the west with factions ranging from die hard Maoists to neoliberals, so to say it’s a one-party state is superficial since factions play the same function within the CPC and to say the 2-party system of almost all of the west presents political diversity is laughable since in the west the political spectrum is one neoliberal party that is homophobic and another neoliberal party that isn’t homophobic; this accurately paints the picture of political diversity in the west which is fucking nothing compared to the diversity of political voices in China
        • their elected officials are mostly not lifelong politicians such as in the west meaning in the west we really have a permanent oligarchy (such as Biden who has been part of the ruling oligarchy long enough that he voted against desegregation) whereas in China they elect people who are from the people
        • that is to say, Chinese democracy is mostly of the people with some who then climb higher whereas western democracy is a set of lifelong permanent appointments and a remarkably high proportion of them are the children of lifelong politicians
        • Chinese democracy is mostly devolved and local, eg city and provincial politics are what matters most, whereas western democracy is mostly centralized
        • Chinese people report in poll after poll they see that their government is responsive to their will whereas westerners report the opposite
        • Chinese people report a very high level of confidence in the integrity of their democratic processes and representatives when westerners report the opposite

        When I say China is a democracy I mean it in the full sense of it, not some orientalized “China is very very mysterious and sinister” sense of it.

        It’s not a perfect democracy at all and I won’t make that claim but it’s a very good one and it far outstrips the west in terms of being actually representative of the people in terms of voting patterns resulting in changes of public policy and in terms of diversity of political voices and in terms of actual integrity.

        Not some orientalized “benevolent dictator” bullshit but that the people ELECT their leaders for the local politics that matter most and then those local politics elect the national body leading to a system of politics that represents the will of the people based on their right to vote.

        Democracy.