Official in China Says Western-Style Democracy Won’t Take Root There

Li Fei, deputy director of the legislative affairs commission of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, stressed already high tensions between China and Western nations like the U.S. in a recent interview. As Edward Wong of the New York Times writes in a Saturday article, Mr. Li's statements come in spite of recent statements by other officials saying "in public and in the Chinese news media that the country is moving toward democracy, implying that some form of a Western-style political system could take root." However, sometimes officials say directly that China will not have a Western-style democracy. Mr. Li said that "different countries have different election rules and a socialist China won’t follow Western election campaigns." He also said that a country's wealth is a prerequisite for Western-democracy: “Western-style elections, however, are a game for the rich,” he said. “They are affected by the resources and funding that a candidate can utilize. Those who manage to win elections are easily in the shoes of their parties or sponsors and become spokespersons for the minority.” 

National People’s Congress

These sentiments betray a disregard for the voice of the population being expressed through direct elections, undermining citizen-state relations in the Comparative Government viewpoint. Mr. Li said that the priority should be on improving the current style of elections, not expanding the use of direct election. Yet, the current system of elections in China is nothing more than a nominal process. Many critics of China from the West say that people at the local level are given no choice but the Communist Party. I thought it was very interesting that Mr. Li made such blunt comments; however it is not the first time as Wu Bangguo, chairman of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, said in March 2009 that China would never "copy" Western countries and have a multiparty democracy. 


Li Fei's interview was originally published online by China Daily. Read it here.


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