BEIJING: Experts at an international forum on democracy have said that Chinese democracy and governance, characterized by being responsive to people’s voices, have proved effective.
On Wednesday, more than 200 guests from home and abroad, including representatives of government departments and international organizations, experts and scholars, discussed topics related to democracy and global governance, both in person or virtually, during the third “International Forum on Democracy: The Shared Human Values” in Beijing.
Stephen Perry, president emeritus of Britain’s 48 Group Club, said he believed that China is on its way to a good form of democracy, saying China has a sound system of hearing the people and responding to them.
“Chinese leaders do an enormous amount of research into what the people think, feel, experience and want,” he said.
The democracy of hearing the people is probably simpler in China than it is in the West, he added.
Wang Shaoguang, professor emeritus with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, pointed out how Chinese officials go into the masses to learn about their requests.
“In China, officials are required to go to the frontlines, visit the villages and local communities. They share their tables and work, and even live with the people,” he said.
Wang summarized this method as sticking to the line of the masses, describing it as a huge advantage of Chinese democracy.
The attendees agreed that in China, the people’s expectations are heard by the authorities, but more importantly, they can be realized.
“The greatest advantage of Chinese democracy and governance is that there are no empty promises,” said Alexander Lomanov, head of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“What is written in government work plans will be implemented,” he said, adding that every work plan is adjusted to the needs of the Chinese people.
According to a report published during the forum, nearly 10,000 people surveyed in 2023 in 23 countries, covering Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Oceania, agree strongly with the rich connotations of China’s whole-process people’s democracy and consider it a benchmark for human political systems.
Of those interviewed, 91.4 percent believe that whole-process people’s democracy enables the people to voice their needs freely, and that democracy should focus on solving people’s practical problems.
Forum attendees also underlined the importance of respecting the diversity of democratic practice and advocated the spirit of mutual learning.
“Chinese democracy and governance do work, and there’s a lot about it we can learn from. We should be studying China, not trying to lecture China,” Perry said.
The event was hosted by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council Information Office and co-organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Media Group and China International Communications Group.
