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2 Undemocratic China can't rule the
world By Jinghao Zhou
Throughout history, every great
transformation in Chinese society has been ushered
in by ideological change. Since the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) launched reform and
opening-up in 1978, China has abandoned Mao
Zedong's revolutionary model of social development
and adopted the so-called "Beijing consensus" or
"China model" to serve its great transformation.
After three decades of change from an
agrarian to an industrial society, China has now
become the world's second-largest and
fastest-growing economy. It is 10 times bigger
than it was in 1978 and the nation has experienced
the same degree of industrialization and social
transformation as Europe did over two centuries.
[1]
China inevitably faces a challenge to
undergo a new great
transformation and move
another rung up the ladder in terms of
international status - from a world economic power
to an internationally recognized and respected
leader.
There are signs that recognition
and respect of its higher place are growing. This
year's global public opinion survey by the Pew
Research Center's Global Attitudes Project shows
that 47% of respondents in 22 nations believe
China has replaced or will replace the United
States as the world's leading superpower, while
36% think China will never push the US off that
pedestal. By comparison, the respective
percentages in the 2009 survey were 40% and 44%.
More interestingly, people in Western
countries have stronger faith in China - as 72% in
France, 67% in Spain, 65% in the United Kingdom
and 61% in Germany believe the Middle Kingdom has
replaced or will replace the US as world No 1. And
even inside the US, the China story is taking
hold. The proportion of American respondents with
similar views to the Europeans jumped to 46% from
33% in 2009, and has nudged one point above the
percentage who are of the opinion that China will
never surpass the US. [2]
But what place
does the "China model" have in helping the Middle
Kingdom undergo this transition to pre-eminence?
At such a turning point in history, the ruling
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will have to make a
critical decision on whether it is willing to
remake the foundation of the China model.
What is the China model? The
China model represents a complex set of
developments over the past 30 years, describing
the unique qualities of China's culture, geography
and governing philosophies. [3] It has received
wide international media coverage, and anyone
wishing to discuss the theme can choose from more
than 30 books and hundreds articles.
While
the Chinese official media describe China's
development in the post-Mao Zedong era as a
"socialist market economy with Chinese
characteristics", scholars around the world
characterize the "China model" as a mix of
authoritarianism and a socialist market economy
that contrasts with the alternative Washington
consensus.
The government perspective
crystallizes the China model as the practice of
the official philosophy of the reform movement.
The China System: Reading 60 Years of the
People's Republic of China, a book published
by the Central Compilation and Translation Press
in Beijing at the end of December 2009, is the
official view on the model's evolution.
The China Daily in April 2011 published
three articles praising Deng Xiaoping's
interpreter, Zhang Weiwei, for his view on the
China model in China Shock: The Rise of a
Civilized Country, and the book's central
thesis is that China has shocked the world in
three facets of its transition: the rise of
peaceful development; the rise of the development
model; and the rise of political values.
Wei Pan, director of Peking University's
Center for Chinese & Global Affairs, puts it
this way: "The China model consists of four
sub-systems: a unique way of social organization,
a unique way of developing its economy, a unique
way of government, and a unique outlook on the
world." [4]
In present-day China, all
social organizations are under the CCP's
leadership; the market economy is managed by the
government; government organizations are guided by
the CCP; and China's official outlook on the world
is Marxism, as represented by the thoughts of Deng
Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.
Thus
it can be said that the core of the China model is
fundamentally the current Chinese political
system; and China model is a theorization of the
path of China's development directed by the CCP.
Chen Jinhua, former vice chairman of the
national committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
published an article entitled "China Model and
China's System" in the People's Daily on July 5,
2011, in which he criticizes that the media avoid
the key issue about the China model in their
discussions and points out that the key to the
China model is the fundamental system now in
place.
China model has worked Under the China model, the country has
successfully taken a different path from Western
societies and will probably eventually reverse the
one-way tendency for Westernization in its drive
for modernization.
It was necessary for
China to adopt its own model in the post-Mao era,
since there were real shortcomings to the
development models in Latin America and the
Washington Consensus was not a suitable one on
which China could base the transition from an
agrarian to an industrial society.
The
model has demonstrated its great strength,
especially during the Asia financial crisis in
1997-98 and in the most recent world financial
crisis that began in the United Stated in 2008.
The economy grew at 7.9% in 2009 and 10% in 2010
while the global economy grew by 1.6% on average.
As a result, the theory of "China's
collapse" has itself crumbled and the China model
has garnered increasing global attention. Although
economic prosperity may not necessarily translate
into democracy, China's increased self-confidence
allows it to project its political and cultural
identity ever more widely as time marches on. [5]
The China model has worked because it
embraces both universal norms and unique Chinese
characteristics. Economic growth has benefited
from the "reform and opening-up" policy, which
essentially grants the Chinese people individual
rights to develop the economy.
Such
success demonstrates that universal norms,
including globalization, marketization and
privatization, are the right direction for China
to take. The success of the Chinese economy lies
in universal norms being put into practice in
unique ways - with Chinese characteristics. In
this sense, other countries may learn some good
experiences from the China model, but they can
never copy it, simply because "Chinese
characteristics" are not universal.
Because of this, it is impossible to fully
understand the true meanings of the China model
out of the context of China. The essence of the
China model is that the CCP continues to uphold
"socialism with Chinese characteristics",
intervening in the market, implementing limited
privatization, and maintaining social stability to
ensure the continuance of its monopoly on
political power and its rule out the separation of
the three powers - the legislature, the
administration and the judiciary.
As such,
the Chinese "socialist" system is essential to the
China model's success. China could not have
achieved its remarkable gains in the past 30 years
without its support. Again, in this sense, the
China model can hardly be copied by another
country.
Politically, the core of
"socialism with Chinese characteristics" is the
"Four Cardinal Principles" laid down by Deng
Xiaoping - adhering to the socialist road, the
dictatorship of the proletariat, Marxism-Leninism
and Mao Zedong Thought, and CCP leadership, which
enabled Deng to launch his reform and the
country's subsequent social and economic
transition.
The party leadership is the
cornerstone of the four principles. Although in
the post-Deng era, the CCP has emphasized the
theories of the (Jiang Zemin's) "three represents"
and (Hu Jintao's) "harmonious society", in
practice it continues to uphold the four
principles. The China model in fact embodies the
four cardinal principles.
The China model
includes two components: copying of successful
elements of economic liberalization in other
countries and the CCP's monopoly of power.
Rowan Callick characterizes the China
model as economic freedom plus political
repression. [6] This implies that China has
developed its economy without the coordination of
political democratizing for 30 years. Similar
development models have also proved to have worked
in other places, such as Singapore, Hong Kong,
Taiwan and South Korea, although they have seen
democratization either take place or become
inevitable.
Will the China model
sustain China's future? The China model has
worked so far, but that does not necessarily mean
it will sustain the country's economic growth.
True, the CCP has remained surprisingly resilient.
[7] And since the reform and opening-up, the
developing economy has heavily relied on trade,
foreign investment, domestic savings and now the
property market.
While there is no doubt
that the Chinese economy will continue to grow,
the question is how long economic freedoms and
political repression can continue to coexist in
China. [8] Most literature on the subject adopts a
micro-analytical approach by emphasizing domestic
problems that hinder China further development.
This approach suggests that China will not
be able to sustain dynamic economic growth if the
government cannot handle all the problems
appropriately. However, this approach gives little
attention to the deficiency of the official
philosophy behind the China model.
There
are several doctrines of Chinese official
philosophy as pillars to shore up the China model:
The slogan of four modernizations, partial reform,
partial door-opening, and pragmatic theory, such
as "let some people be rich first", "cross the
river by groping the stones on the riverbed" and
"a cat that catches mice is a good one, be it is
black or white".
All such doctrines are
economy-centered approaches. While they have
helped China turn a command economy into a
booming, free-wheeling one, it is time for the CCP
to turn to the question of how to maintain the
China model as the main driving force in becoming
an internationally recognized world power or
leader.
Accomplishment of this transition
requires the foundation of the China model to be
remodeled as a four-wheel drive: a real
combination of industrialization, urbanization,
marketization and globalization, so that China's
development will become well-balanced between
economy, politics, culture, society and the
environment.
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