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2 Beijing spring: Democracy is in the
air By Kent Ewing
HONG
KONG - Spring has not proved to be a hopeful
season in the politics of China's past, but that
could be changing. These days, there is democracy
as well as pollen in the air. All this seems to
pave the way for the introduction of a more
democratic election system in the all-important
17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) this autumn.
Start with the
fact that both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen
Jiabao have recently spoken positively about democratic
development both in Hong Kong
and on the mainland. In addition, a number of
articles on political reform have appeared in the
state-controlled media and Communist Party
journals. There has also been speculation by
veteran commentators overseas on the possibility
of a democratic future for China.
And all
this comes at a particularly sensitive time. This
month marks the 18th anniversary of the death of
the reform-minded Communist Party general
secretary Hu Yaobang, which inspired tens of
thousands of students to pour into the streets in
mourning. But that mass exercise in grief soon
transformed into a mass demonstration for
democracy that ended in the Tiananmen Square
massacre on June 4, 1989.
Discussion of
Tiananmen remains off-limits in mainland China,
and the original government position - that the
violence employed to suppress the student
demonstrators was a legitimate use of force
against "counter-revolutionary turmoil" -
continues to be the official line.
This
spring also marks the 50th anniversary of the
anti-rightist campaign implemented by Mao Zedong
to terrorize his opponents and tighten his grip on
power. Mao's strategy was to invite intellectuals
to voice criticism and then to label them as
"rightists" and silence them with detention and
even death.
An estimated 550,000 people
were targeted during the campaign, and it was not
until 1978 - two years after Mao's death - that
the long process of rehabilitation, initiated by
Hu Yaobang, began. That was too late for older
victims, who by then had died, but others have
overcome the stigma of the campaign and even risen
to power - former premier Zhu Rongji serving as a
prominent example.
Many, however, continue
to live in the shadows of Chinese political life,
and there has been no official apology for the way
they were treated. Indeed, in this sensitive
anniversary year, the subject is taboo. With these
grim events in the historical background, what
does it mean when Chinese leaders speak favorably
of democracy?
Both the president and
premier have pledged to support Hong Kong's
democratic development. But that is no big
surprise, as the Basic Law, the constitution
agreed to by London and Beijing before the city
reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, calls for
popular election of executive and legislature some
time in the future.
But Wen's expatiations
on democratic development on the mainland at a
March 16 news conference created a genuine stir.
When the premier was asked about an article he had
written for the People's Daily in which he stated
that socialism and democracy were not mutually
exclusive, he answered willingly and at length.
At one point, he declared: "You are
actually asking what socialist democracy means.
Let me be very clear about it: socialist
democracy, in the final analysis, is to enable the
people to govern themselves. This means we need to
ensure people's rights to democratic elections,
democratic decision-making, democratic management
and democratic oversight. It means we need to
create conditions for people to oversee and
criticize the government."
But Wen went on
to say that the development of democracy in a
country as large and complex as China would be a
gradual process and that, more immediately, it was
important for the present (unelected) leadership
to create a sense of social, economic and
political justice among ordinary citizens. That,
he added, can only come from listening and
responding to the people - although he said
nothing about letting them vote.
China's
democracy dreamers also take heart in other
promising signs. For example, Joseph Kahn of the
New York Times, citing unnamed CCP officials,
reported this month that authorities had
sanctioned the publication of the musings of Lu
Dingyi, a veteran
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