US-led democracy summit ‘a huge irony’, Communist Party official says
- Jiang Jinquan says Western systems face mounting problems and democracy is not about rhetoric and election pledges
- He had been asked about ‘whole process democracy’, cited in a communique after the party plenum, attended by 300 officials
Published: 10:00pm, 12 Nov, 2021
Updated: 10:00pm, 12 Nov, 2021
A senior ideology official with the Communist Party has taken a swipe at a forthcoming US-hosted democracy summit, saying it was ironic given that Western democracies faced “mounting problems”.
“The US will host a so-called democracy summit and seeks to revive Western democracy, and it’s a huge irony to host it against the mounting problems faced by Western democracy,” said Jiang Jinquan, director of the party’s Policy Research Office.
US President Joe Biden is expected to host the first of two Summits for Democracy in early December, bringing together leaders from governments and civil society. Media reports have suggested it is likely that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen will be invited, which would enrage the Chinese government.
Jiang, whose department is responsible for grand strategies and ideology research, cited an unspecified recent poll in the US in which 81 per cent of Americans said there was a “serious threat” to its democracy. That number matched a poll released by NPR/PBS News hour and Marist Poll two weeks ago.
He went on to cite polls conducted by US agencies and said that over 90 per cent of Chinese had said they were satisfied with their government.
Jiang did not specify which polls he was referring to, but Chinese officials have regularly cited research published in 2020 by Harvard’s Ash Centre, which showed that 93 per cent of Chinese respondents said in 2016 they were satisfied with their central government.
“Which is better and which is worse?” Jiang said. “Anyone with a clear eye can tell themselves.”
His remarks were made on Friday during a press conference in Beijing whose primary agenda was to explain the results of the sixth plenum, a closed-door high-level meeting of the Communist Party held over four days this week.
When he was asked about “whole process democracy”, referred to in the plenum communique published on Thursday, Jiang lashed out at the American system.
He argued that real democracy was not about rhetoric and pledges made on the election trail, saying: “Democracy is not an ornament or just for decoration. Democracy is for solving the people’s real problems.”
Those lines matched word for word President Xi Jinping’s comments in a speech made in late October, when he also argued that institutional competition was a “key aspect” of rivalry between nations, and could be a “key advantage for the country in gaining the strategic initiative”.
Jiang added that democracy was not real if the people had no say after voting for empty promises. He also praised the party for rejecting Western political concepts including constitutional democracy, a multiparty system and separation of powers.
During the plenum, about 300 party officials, led by Xi, passed a resolution that hailed the party’s achievements in the past century and especially under Xi’s leadership since 2012.
The
document, whose full text has not yet been released, is aimed at
showing the party’s solidarity and paving the way for Xi’s third term as
leader, which is expected to be confirmed at next year’s party
congress.