China’s non-communist parties have vowed to improve their competence in political participation and raise theoretical level by strenuously studying the Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, former chief of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
The country’s non-communist parties have organized group studies, symposiums and lectures on Jiang’s Selected Works since it was published last week.
They also studied the speech made by Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, at a meeting on the study of Jiang’s works.
Leaders of the Association for Promoting Democracy, the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party and other non-communist parties said the parties, as CPC’s close friends, will organize further studies of Jiang’s works among their party members.
They said the publication of Jiang’s Selected Works, which have summarized the valuable experience of the CPC in pushing forward socialism with Chinese characteristics, marked a major event in the political life of the CPC and the state.
They noted the works have combined the basic principles of Marxism with the actual conditions in China’s contemporary socialistic construction.
Somebody please straighten this out for me: Are these actual “political parties” and if so, why are they all such “close friends” with the CCP? Has the world been in error all these years, seeing the PRC as a one-party system?
Note the use of the neutral “they” in describing how these various groups look upon Jiang’s momentous works, all of them thinking and saying the same thing in adherence to the strict regulations of Groupthink. Remarkable.
Anyone with information on elections that these separate parties have won recently is free to tell us about them in the comments. And if anyone believes that there is even a single iota of truth in this article, even in its punctuation, let me know why.
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By Positive Solutions
You must note that last year the State Council issued China’s first White Paper on democracy in China. Its basic conclusion was that China is a democracy, with the CCP at it’s core.
The other parties are all a throw back from the United Front period and the very earliest years of New China, when Premier Zhou in particular pushed for the CCPPC to play an important role in the decision making process. Obviously, it never particularly took off, but enough people (e.g Deng) believed in the importance of retaining this facade of democracy.
It is very hard to join a political party now, they are basically for very small groups of people (I think there is one for doctors, another one for engineers or something similar) who work within the State. I think technically you can establish a political party, but it would I’m sure have to be ratified by the CCP, so I wouldn’t hold out for the Liberal Democratic Faction of Quacking Canards appearing in the Great Hall of the People any time soon.
What gives this story that distinctive whiff of Xinhua bullshit is the sentence: the publication ‘…marked a major event in the political life of the CPC and the state.’ Hu Jintao said EXACTLY the same thing, suggesting it’s just an official political judgement rather than someone saying anything at all.
I’ll let other people do the ranting and raving about the political parties, how weak and pointless they are…(yawn). But suffice to say their origins were interesting, even if at present they are rather lacking in clout!
August 19, 2006 @ 9:55 pm | Comment
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By richard
Thanks for that background. Further indications of BS: Notice that no individual is quoted. “They said…” “They noted….” Who said and noted these things, and to whom did they say or note it to and in what context? The answer is obvious: no one ever said it except some dreary position paper.
I have no doubt that these “parties” exist, but this article is intended to dupe the ignorant into believing there is an active multi-party system in China.
August 19, 2006 @ 10:00 pm | Comment
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By Sam_S
Elections? We don’t need no steenkin’ elections!
I’d guess the big party gave copies of Jiang’s blatherous screed to the little parties, just to keep them busy. I’ve been to a couple of party meetings for the Jiu San (93) party. They get together, have a nice dinner, and discuss certain issues of the day. Once or twice a year, they submit a consultative paper to the Big Party, who accepts it and says “Thank you very much,” then maybe even reads it. Maybe.
This party is composed of professionals–architects, doctors, writers and so on. I don’t know who makes up the other parties. Other than some dinners, discussion, and an occasional “position piece”, I have no idea what they do.
August 20, 2006 @ 6:14 pm | Comment
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By kevin
Yeah, they’ve had these parties for quite some time. I guess to fool those dumb enough into believing that china has a democratic system. The only people I’ve met who actually believed these parties existed were gullible foreigners determined to believe that China isn’t as “bad” as the “Western media” portrays it. I’d love to meet one of the people from these parties and find out what the hell they do all day. Their Shanghai offices are a little ways away from where I work, and there sure doesn’t seem to be a lot of action in that building (called the “democratic factions tower”).
August 23, 2006 @ 12:25 am | Comment
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By Johnny K
“In Soviet Russia, party choose you!”
It is also worthy (or similarly worthless) of note, perhaps, that North Korea also has two “opposition” parties (their party platforms consist of “support the Korean Workers’ Party and its munificient leader Kim Jong Il”
August 23, 2006 @ 12:32 am | Comment
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By Peter
Well, as other people have pointed out, the fact that China feels the need to pretend that they are a democracy is a good thing. It’s an acknowledgement that political power comes from the people, not from the barrel of a gun. Their paying lip service to democracy is a recognition that it is, in fact, the best political system in existence today.
If China’s leadership really believed in the superiority of their own system, they wouldn’t be apologetic about it. They would say “Yes we are a dictatorship, and so what? We have nothing to be ashamed of because our system is better than a democracy”, like Hitler and Mussolini used to. In fact I seem to recall some of the “fen qing” here lamenting the fact that the CCP doesn’t take this attitude.
August 24, 2006 @ 3:27 am | Comment
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By yonanu
Re. Peter above.
Or maybe it just shows that CCP is aware of the importance other nations with whom they want to have business, place in the idea of democracy.
When Hu or some other big shot goes abroad for an important meeting they always release a few political prisoners just to show that they are not *that* bad – and they have in fact already come along way so you can keep comments about human rights to yourself, thank you very much.
And the minute Hu comes back to Beijing, the police rounds up even more dissidents.
Political “progress” in China is only a show. Just enough to keep people off their backs as they go about with their regular dictator jobs.
August 25, 2006 @ 1:39 pm | Comment