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Democracy is "an ideal" that has always been cherished by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese people, the Chinese government said in a white paper published on Saturday (Dec. 4), titled, "China: Democracy that works".
The 20,000-word white paper was released ahead of the Democracy Summit that U.S. President Joe Biden is set to host on Dec. 9 and 10.
Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its territory, is on the list of attendees, although Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen will not be attending it in person.
Former foreign minister George Yeo told Chinese state-backed media Global Times that the summit was intended to "reduce China's moral standing in the world", adding that it is part of a "multi-faceted campaign to put China in a negative light".
China has its own model of "democracy"
The white paper, which listed down the country's "democratic endeavours", further stated that there is "no fixed model of democracy", the English-language arm of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, CGTN, reported.
The Chinese government also said whether a country is democratic should be decided by the "international community", rather than "arbitrarily decided by a few self-appointed judges".
China manufactures its own brand of democracy by taking into consideration its "national conditions and realities" before it "manifests its own truth", the document stated.
"China draws on each and every political achievement of other countries, but does not imitate any of their models of democracy," it added.
"The model that suits (China) best is always the most appropriate."
Chinese people hold their future in their hands: Chinese government
The party further said it has led the Chinese people in realising "people's democracy" over "the past hundred years".
The CCP recently commemorated its 100th anniversary since it was founded in Shanghai in 1921.
The party has ruled the country since 1949 after it came to power following a long civil war with the Kuomintang, which had focused its efforts previously on fighting the Japanese.
"The Chinese people now truly hold in their hands their own future and that of society and the country," the paper stated.
"In China, the standard practice is to hear people's voices, act on their needs, and pool their ideas and strength."
CGTN added that the Chinese people "widely exercise their right to vote in elections and undertake extensive deliberations before major decisions are made".
It further cited government data and said the country has held 12 direct elections to people's congresses at the township level, and 11 direct elections to those at the country level, with a participation rate of about 90 per cent.
Besides the white paper, several senior CCP officials gave speeches on "China's democracy" as well at an event that was touted by the state as "an international forum on democracy".
Similar to the U.S.' Democracy Summit, which invited 110 countries and regions, it was a two-day event, and representatives from over 120 countries were invited.
Independent candidates claimed they faced intimidation
Outside of state-sanctioned news, however, it was reported that local citizens faced difficulties when trying to get themselves elected.
Back in November, a group of 14 independent candidates who planned to run in elections for Beijing's district-level People's Congress, collectively announced that they have withdrawn their candidacy, according to California-based bilingual news site China Digital Times.
They said they fear for their personal safety in light of what they claimed to be police threats and intimidation.
They highlighted an example of an unusually high number of road sweepers being sent to clean the streets they were campaigning on.
Besides this encounter, they told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that since they announced their candidacy, they were placed under "round-the-clock police surveillance", and some were even called to the police station for "tea" or a "chat".
This was reported by other pro-U.S. government news outlets as well, such as Voice of America.
Bao Tong, a prominent writer and activist who was the most senior party official to be thrown in jail for sympathising with the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protesters, expressed his frustrations on the roadblocks faced by the candidates.
His tweet reads, "From the time when (these) citizens announce their candidacy, to the authorities limiting their movement and warning voters not to make contact with the candidates, to the candidates being forced to end their campaign activities -- this is the entire process of democracy in China."
Chinese dissidents dismissed the paper
While the Chinese government encourages citizens with no criminal record to choose their local representatives for the People's Congresses, the elections have been criticised by western countries as being democratic in name only as the party picks its own preferred candidates with no room for others to win.
Chinese dissidents have dismissed the white paper as nothing more than an attempt to hit back at the U.S.' attempt to gather its allies for what appeared to be an ideological battle with China.
Chinese democracy campaigner told RFA that for the Chinese government to have published this white paper at this particular timing, their goal was to scramble for a response to deal with the upcoming democracy summit held by the U.S.
He further questioned the need for China to "force the label of democracy upon itself despite its conflicting authoritarian system".
"To fight for this (the right to call itself a democracy), this shows that deep in your bones, you clearly know that democracy is a good thing," he said.
The party's white paper was dismissed by western China political observers as well, who pointed out that China currently does not allow political opposition to the ruling party, The Guardian reported.
China is ranked 151 out of 167 countries and territories for 2020 on the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index.
The criticisms go both ways.
The Chinese government has slammed the U.S. for its flawed democracy as well, saying that western countries are trying to impose their notion of democracy on the Asian country.
"The electoral democracy of Western countries are actually democracy ruled by the capital, and they are a game of the rich, not real democracy," Jiang Jinquan, director of the policy research office of the CCP's central committee said at a press conference in November, CNBC reported.
Top image adapted via Xinhua & Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images
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