Since its establishment on 1 October 1949, the form and content of administration in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), remained a matter of serious concern across the globe due to reasons well known to all of us in last several decades and now is the time to re-evaluate the whole thing in context of democratic theme and prevailing values that make a life full of joyful moments and freedom for the individual and the society as well.
From the beginning the focal point of difference between the PRC and other countries of the world including the USA, were on emphasis: while the USA, being a superpower and having enough wealth tagged itself a model of political and democratic privileges with the utmost amount of freedom for all, the PRC, a newly-born baby nation with lot of problems that normally a developing country faces, made itself more dependent on economic resources and arrangements and adopted a one-party system along with dominance of the Communist Party of China for the time to come.
In the last seven decades, the People’s Republic of China has also registered tremendous developments in every field and from the recent past its economy has begun challenging the US power and influence in many sectors, including the economy. Simultaneously, the coming of modernization, the spread of democratic values with rising incomes and information have further paved the way to move China in a democratic direction.
The deep and close relations between PRC and Taiwan also works as an additional force in pushing China toward a limited set of democracy because the Chinese system itself is aware about the dangers that led to the downfall of the old USSR under the reign of Mikhail Gorbachev. In present circumstances there is no hope of China becoming an electoral democracy, it may ease some individual restrictions and other limitations which work as an exit points for public grievances.
Established more than seven decades ago, the People’s Republic of China, under the full control of Mao Zedong, country’s first Communist leader, began a new experiment in both politics and economy jointly and proved the fact over the years and decades about them to know and understand the world in a better way.
In addition, the Third World countries where democracy was begotten due to political themes are still struggling for their economic well being and finding hard to meet the challenges, but China despite being the most populous country of the world, is not only satisfying the public needs and aspirations, but also posing a robust competition among the nations of the world
The State of the time, keeping in view the economic vision, took control of the factories, businesses, the land and so on, on peoples’ behalf with no private ownership. After the death of its first leader China began to move towards economic liberalisation under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping in 1978 and as a result China became the world’s fastest growing nation in context of economy with average rate of 10 percent, including four top competitive financial centres of the world: Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shenzhen. In addition, it is the largest manufacturing economy and exporter of goods along with being the largest trading nation in the world which plays a significant role in global trade, becoming an active member of the World Trade Organisation since 2001.
Like this, in politics China has evolved a unique three-fold model of democracy which comprises: a. the party leadership, b. the people as the masters of the country, and c. rule of law. In Chinese perception, while the first makes people mastesr of the country, the second and third works as a guarantee of the first. The trace of this unique tradition can be found in the concept of 221 B.C. relating to “unified ruling entity”. In recent decades, the People’s Republic of China has proved its model of democracy a success in view of its strong decision-making process and efficiency of policy execution as well as being a more responsive form of government in comparison to other prevailing forms of democracy.
In the Chinese political system, the Communist Party of China has been playing a pivotal role from the very first day and over the years and decades it has also transformed itself into a popular and legal entity in the country. China, being the most populous country of the world, has maintained its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at around 10 percent and above and left several developed countries behind in respect of economic growth and life comfort commodities at regional and global levels.
Its development registered a surprising growth, particularly after 1978 when it moved seriously on the path of economic liberalisation and globalisation with special focus on professional and technical education which provided a boost in its economy in general. The new impetus over the years made available the public abundance of consumer goods which helped improve China’s standard of living and set the stage for the further take-off at the national level. The Party has kept a close eye on rules and procedures of implementing the ’Rule of Law’ which needs strict observance of the Constitution and adherence to fundamental principles of the economic system. The Party at large believes in public ownership and many-fold diverse forms of ownership which maintains a fine balance between public property rights and private property rights in the nation’s interest. Thus, the root of the Chinese concept of democracy lies in economic prosperity and balance of its management in the benefit of the general public and indirectly it guarantees public welfare and participation in different levels of party and administrative structures and in this way the PRC claims to be a People’s Democracy even in the era of globalisation.
The narration of Western and Chinese democracy draws a thick line between the two in respect of their bases, political as well as economic. While democracy in Western countries and elsewhere has grown out of political rights and its provisions of respective constitutions, the emergence of democracy in China owes itself to its sound economic system and its successful management at national and international levels.
In addition, the Third World countries where democracy was begotten due to political themes are still struggling for their economic well being and finding hard to meet the challenges, but China despite being the most populous country of the world, is not only satisfying the public needs and aspirations, but also posing a robust competition among the nations of the world.
