Deputy to the Municipal People’s Congress Zhu Qin listens to migrant workers’ suggestions at a workshop of Tianzhicheng Textiles Co., Ltd. in Deqing County of Huzhou in east China’s province of Zhejiang on June 18, 2021.
On March 4 and 5, the fifth session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the fifth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), known as the Two Sessions, opened in Beijing back-to-back.
They are major events in the political life of the Chinese people, and the best windows for the world to observe China’s practice of whole-process people’s democracy.
During the Two Sessions, NPC deputies and CPPCC members from all regions, ethnic groups and walks of life in China bring the people’s voices and aspirations to the meetings where they discuss national affairs, seek development plans, and pursue shared goals together. This is the process of unifying thoughts and reaching consensus, and also the process of promoting the implementation of tasks. When people’s aspirations are in line with the will of the Party and the state, and when the members and deputies bring the spirit of the Two Sessions back to the grassroots and sow it in the hearts of more people, China will grow stronger.
In Accordance with China’s National Conditions
The political system a country implements and the development path it chooses are major issues that matter immensely for the future of the country and the happiness of its people.
The Two Sessions are institutional platforms that demonstrate the remarkable advantages of democratic politics with Chinese characteristics. The deputies to people’s congresses are representative of the people, as they live among the people and best represent them; CPPCC members have the political advantage of being of one mind, the intellectual advantage of having a pool of talent, and the sectoral advantage of having a wide range of contacts.
In September 1954, the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China was adopted at the first session of the First National People’s Congress, formally establishing China’s fundamental political system – the system of people’s congresses.
The system of people’s congresses is an important part of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and an important institutional vehicle for realizing whole-process people’s democracy in China.
Over the past 73 years since the founding of New China, the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), have steadfastly followed the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics. It is a path that has ensured that the people manage affairs of the state, the economy, culture, and society through various channels and in many forms in accordance with the law, and ensured that the country’s future and destiny remains firmly in the people’s own hands.
In September 1949, the first plenary session of the CPPCC was successfully held. The CPPCC is an organization of the Chinese people’s patriotic united front, an important system of CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation, and a critical form and part of the promotion of whole-process socialist democracy in the People’s Republic of China. It also serves as a vital channel and a specialized consultative body for socialist consultative democracy with Chinese characteristics, as well as an important component and institutional arrangement of China’s national governance system.
Over the past 70-odd years, under the leadership of the CPC and with the themes of unity and democracy in mind, the CPPCC has been working on the central tasks of the Party and the state and has played an important role in each of the various historical periods of New China’s development including socialist revolution, construction, and reform.
Democracy is a common value shared by all humankind, but there is no unified model of democracy that can be applied to all countries. Only when each country focuses on its own objective reality and its own historical and cultural traditions can it find a democratic path that suits its own national conditions.
“Whether a country is democratic or not should be judged by its people instead of those foreign minorities who point fingers at other country’s affairs,” Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, pointed out. “It is in itself undemocratic to use a single yardstick to measure the rich and varied political systems and examine the diverse political civilizations of humanity from a monotonous perspective.”
After a long period of practice and exploration, China has established a socialist democratic system with Chinese characteristics that is in line with its national conditions: the system of people’s congresses, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, the system of grassroots democracy, and the system of CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation. These systems not only adhere to the fundamental principles of socialism, but also draw on the beneficial achievements of institutional construction at home and abroad throughout history. They are advanced systems featuring distinctive Chinese characteristics, great institutional advantages, and strong capabilities of self-improvement, and are the fundamental institutional guarantee for China’s development and progress.
Whole-process people’s democracy is a brand-new political system that is explored by the CPC. As a socialist people’s democracy born in China, it has ensured the people’s status as masters of the country, has broken the myth of Western democracy, and has set out on a democratic path with Chinese characteristics. This democratic practice demonstrates extraordinary vitality and vigor. At the same time, it contributes Chinese wisdom and solutions to the world’s political civilization and provides a useful reference for the exploration of democratic systems for other countries.
People-Centered Philosophy
Ensuring people’s status as masters of the country is the essence and core of socialist democratic politics.
The report to the 19th CPC National Congress states, “The very purpose of developing socialist democracy is to give full expression to the will of the people, protect their rights and interests, spark their creativity, and provide systemic and institutional guarantees to ensure the people run the country.” The political development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China undoubtedly reflects a people-centered development philosophy.
General Secretary Xi noted, “Democracy is not an ornament to be used for dcoration; it is to be used to solve the problems that the people want solved.” The most valuable essence of China’s democracy is that “it works” and it advances social civilization and benefits the 1.4 billion Chinese people.
At the Two Sessions, deputies and members put forward proposals and suggestions, ranging from national legislations, national economic and social development plans, fiscal budget plans and supervision of their execution, to regulation of educational agencies that provide extra-curricular training, improvement to elderly care systems in rural areas, measures addressing the housing difficulties in big cities, and assistance for empty nesters. They discuss solutions to social issues that affect people’s lives, which engrave the people-centered philosophy in the process of democratic practices with Chinese characteristics.
The whole-process people’s democracy has not only ensured the people’s status as masters of the country, but also pooled the powerful strength of the Chinese people to promote reform and development. The system effectively guarantees the people’s wide participation in national and social management, helping China make great strides in increasing its economic, scientific, technological and composite national strength as well as people’s living standards. China has now become the world’s second largest economy, largest industrial country, largest goods trader, and largest holder of foreign exchange reserves. Its gross domestic product (GDP) exceeds RMB 100 trillion, per capita GDP exceeds US $10,000, urbanization rate exceeds 60 percent, and the middle-income group exceeds 400 million people.
Through extensive and in-depth democratic consultation, the Two Sessions bring together people’s expectations, wisdom, and strength. Other than that, common understanding and interests emerge, and solutions are found. That is a process of promoting democracy, drawing on wisdom and building consensus, and it is also a process of scientific and democratic decision-making.
Ensuring and supporting the people’s status as masters of the country is not a slogan or an empty promise, but is a philosophy which has been adopted in every aspect of the country’s political and social life.
In each of the more than 500,000 administrative villages of all sizes in China, a wall known as the “wall for acknowledgement” can be seen where the village’s collective financial income and expenditure, lists of poor family receiving assistance, the utilization of various agricultural funds, election announcements, the latest government policy, and so on are put on display for public knowledge.
There are more than 2,800 secretaries of CPC county committees working in rural areas. Their concerns may differ greatly, but they share a common aspiration and goal, which is to let every person live a good life.
In each city, the city and district deputies to the people’s congresses go to the grassroot, and listen to people’s voices and needs so as to better solve their troubles.
In China, whole-process people’s democracy has become the most extensive, the most real, and the most effective democracy.
CPPCC members from Guang’an City, Sichuan Province, inspect a farmers’ market in Guang’an District to come up with a plan to improve the construction and development of such markets on May 27, 2020.
Whole-Process Democracy
Whole-process people’s democracy is a thorough and all-round democracy covering all aspects, characterized not only by complete institutional procedures, but also complete participation. This is the charm of whole-process people’s democracy, which gives everyone the opportunity to become a participant in national decision-making.
Whole-process people’s democracy ensures that the people engage in not only democratic elections, but also decision-making, management, and supervision in accordance with the law.
Democratic election: Deputies to the NPC are elected through multi-level rounds of voting from the bottom to the top. In China, 2.62 million people serve as deputies to people’s congresses at various levels nationwide, from all social groups, regions, ethnic groups, and sectors. Among them, those at county and township levels account for 94.5 percent of the total who are elected by voters on a one-person-one-vote basis. NPC deputies come from all walks of life, a large proportion of which are workers, farmers, and intellectuals from the grassroots, and the least populated ethnic minorities also have their own deputies. This is markedly different from the Western democratic system where the legislature has interest groups and the resulting “veto-based politics.”
Democratic decision-making: In China, any major decision that may affect the overall plan is made following a set of democratic procedures which requires the broadest consultations between all parties. The Draft Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Econmic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035, which were reviewed by the deputies and members of the Two Sessions last year, can be said to be a typical example of whole-process democracy. To prepare for the 14th Five-Year Plan, Xi personally led the drafting of the plan. He insisted that a combination of adopting top-level design and asking people for advice be implemented, so he paid visits to various localities for inspections and research, and presided over seven seminars. He also promoted for the first time an online solicitation of public opinion, through which a total of more than 1.018 million suggestions from netizens were collected. During the Two Sessions of 2021, Xi went to different groups four times to listen carefully to the views and suggestions made by the deputies and members from various aspects. Members and deputies intently reviewed and discussed the draft. Finally, 55 amendments were made to the draft after considering all the opinions and suggestions received. From its preparation to release, this scientific, democratic, and law-based decision-making process demonstrates the essence of whole-process democracy.
Democratic management: The people manage state and social affairs, economic and cultural undertakings through various ways and in multiple forms. People build, share, and develop together, and become the masters of the state, society, and their destiny.
Democratic supervision: After a long period of development, the Party and state supervision system has been continuously improved so that a tight supervision network takes shape to ensure a full coverage of democracy.
In the practice of Chinese socialist democracy, the entire process of democratic election, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision ensures the unification of process and resultant democracy formal and substantive, as well as direct and indirect democracy, avoiding hypocritical democracy as in Western countries where “people are awakened only at the time of election and go into dormancy afterwards” and “state power is in the grip of a few elite.”
The whole-process people’s democracy maximizes national cohesion and fully mobilizes the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of hundreds of millions of people. The development and continuous improvement of whole process people’s democracy guarantees the success of China’s path and will surely cement the foundation to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and long-term stability of the country.
Kang Kai is a special commentator with China Today.