China News Agency, Changchun, August 1, Question: Why is China's democracy deeply integrated into the human rights system?
Author He Zhipeng Executive Director of the Human Rights Research Center of Jilin University
Although some Western politicians, scholars and people do not recognize or accept China's democratic system, in practice, China's democracy not only operates vigorously, but also provides strong institutional and spiritual power for China's economic and social development.
If the essence of Western democracy is to "select representatives", then the essence of Chinese democracy is to "win the hearts of the people".
Democracy in the West can be understood as a "buy-out" "one-time deal".
People express their opinions by voting during the election season, but after the election, the people have exhausted all their democratic rights.
China has built a democratic structure that covers a wider area and more comprehensive coverage.
The public has the opportunity to ask questions in all aspects of state governance, grassroots governance, and field governance, and has the opportunity to provide opinions and suggestions in all aspects of law formulation, decree implementation, and government operation. The state governance mechanism with benign interaction, namely "people's democracy in the whole process".
The core elements of democracy lie in participation, expression and supervision. Human rights and democracy are deeply and complexly related.
Chinese democracy has embarked on a path that takes human rights as its foundation, human rights as its goal, human rights as its yardstick, and human rights as its constraints.
Democracy and human rights are organically, systematically and deeply integrated, forming an important aspect of human rights practice with Chinese characteristics and an important feature of China's democratic system.
In 2021, at the entrance of a community in Pudong, Shanghai, community workers and residents wait for the time when the epidemic is lifted.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yin Liqin
China's democratic system is based on human rights
China's democratic system is based on human rights, which is manifested in the shaping of the state system, the planning of government institutions, the selection and appointment of government officials, and the operation of social governance, all of which are the result of the people's exercise of democratic rights.
To understand this feature, we must clearly understand the relationship between China's ruling system and the people.
The CCP came from the people and relies on the people to grow and develop.
China's leading institutions and leaders are neither a social class that opposes the people, nor an interest group outside the people, but a representative group selected from the people and selected from the people, so there are Responsibility Uphold and ensure that the people are the masters of the country.
Adhering to and ensuring that the people are the masters of the country means insisting that all power in the state belongs to the people, upholding the people's dominant position, and supporting and ensuring that the people exercise state power through a series of democratic institutions such as the National People's Congress.
For this reason, in the prevention and control of the epidemic, China attaches great importance to the feelings of the people and the problems they reflect.
It is not uncommon for leading cadres to be dismissed from their posts due to poor epidemic prevention and control, which has negatively affected people's lives. This situation rarely occurs abroad.
Many Western countries hold a numb mentality in this regard, believing that they have unquestionable legitimacy, which leads to negligence and blind conceit in governance.
On July 29, 2022, at the 2nd China International Consumer Goods Fair in Haikou, Hainan, people experience a bicycle simulation trainer.
Over 2,800 domestic and foreign brands from 61 countries and regions participated in the Expo this year.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Luo Yunfei
China's democracy building aims at human rights
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The people's happy life is the greatest human right." In the entire process of implementing democratic legislation, democratic decision-making, democratic consultation, and democratic supervision, China's original intention and direction are to enhance the people's sense of happiness. A "biggest human right" keeps moving forward.
Democracy is an institutional framework for building a happy life. A healthy and smooth democratic system is conducive to the development of a country's governance system and governance capacity, but the direction and guiding role of human rights cannot be ignored at all times.
If the building of democracy is regarded as an exclusive and only legitimate goal, it is possible to abandon the root cause.
In recent years, China's efforts in poverty alleviation and building a moderately prosperous society have been highly appraised by the international community. Some experts believe that "China has accomplished the impossible task".
These planning goals and work orientations can be summarized and summarized into broad and deep human rights.
This is how China insists on putting the people at the center, and requires that the construction of national democracy and the rule of law will always take the people's yearning for a better life as the goal of struggle, rely on the people to create great historical achievements, and continue to move towards the goal of common prosperity.
China's democratic mechanism is based on human rights
China's democratic mechanism is based on human rights, which means that the national governance framework and the national governance operation process built on the basis of democracy always focus on the fuller recognition of the people.
China's democratic structure and democratic process are constantly being tested by the satisfaction of the people.
Human rights constitute the yardstick for calibrating democracy. The people become the scorers and graders of government work. The ruling party and government must fully consider public opinion and actively respond to the people's living needs and their voices in various fields of politics, economy and culture.
Whether it is the "14th Five-Year Plan" or the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people can express their views and offer suggestions through open online channels.
In the face of problems in social governance, the public will actively report them through various channels and get the attention of governments at all levels, thereby promoting the improvement of governance capabilities and the improvement of the governance system.
This kind of democracy is obviously more complete and thorough, it better reflects the psychological needs of the people to participate in political life, the operation of the state, and the supervision of power, and it is also more conducive to a good state of social operation.
Longitudinal observation shows that in the series of policies adopted by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government, the people's sense of gain and participation have been continuously improved, and the deepening of the democratic process has also led to the continuous improvement of human rights.
China's democratic process is bound by human rights
Democracy must be well restrained, otherwise governance difficulties are likely to arise.
The experience of modern society shows that a democracy with the recognition and protection of basic human rights as the premise and limitation can ensure a healthier society and not lead the society into chaos.
As early as the late 1970s, Deng Xiaoping was keenly aware that without the supervision of the rule of law, democracy may be out of shape, it may run counter to the original intention of democracy, and the goal of democracy may fail.
Under this circumstance, he actively promoted the construction of the socialist legal system, which was also the beginning and starting point of building a socialist country under the rule of law, ruling the country by law in an all-round way, and building a China under the rule of law.
The reason why the rule of law can be used as the driving force of democracy and lay the track of democracy lies in the fact that the rule of law can form the formal and procedural requirements of a good social order, so that democracy will not be overridden and avoid deviating from human rights in a democratic way.
The rule of law is an important guarantee for ensuring the healthy development of democracy, walking in the same direction as human rights, and safeguarding the most basic human rights.
A legal propagandist from Huaying City, Sichuan Province distributed legal materials and interprets it to the masses who enjoyed tea and leisure at the "Legal Teahouse" in Yongxing Town.
Photo by Qiu Haiying issued by China News Agency
The CCP proposes that the construction of work style is always on the road, the construction of party style and clean government and the fight against corruption are always on the road, and the comprehensive and strict governance of the party is always on the road.
Such ideas and practices of self-restraint, self-reflection, self-criticism, and self-renovation are the inherent conditions to ensure that human rights are always respected and protected, and that health and democracy are always promoted.
The goal of democracy is the real governance of state affairs by the people, and the goal of governance of state affairs is to enable the people to truly enjoy the advantages of good policies, laws and their operation.
Therefore, to improve democracy and enhance governance capacity is essentially based on the experience of the people and the attitude of the people as the test criterion.
China's operation mechanism of promoting human rights through democracy has not only created a sound situation of domestic economic and social development, but has also attracted widespread attention from the international community.
However, some Western countries have turned a blind eye to these achievements, and even attacked China's democracy and human rights with various rumors and excuses.
In essence, there are probably two motivations.
One is that they do not know the real situation in China, and only make judgments and evaluations based on the false information obtained hastily.
The rhetoric and position based on this motivation can be changed by learning more facts.
The other is to deliberately suppress China based on concepts such as clash of civilizations, geopolitical competition, and ideological struggle.
They don't really care about democracy and human rights in China, and even more want China to plunge into political chaos and social unrest.
Democracy and human rights are just an excuse for them to attack and suppress China.
For such remarks, even the facts and the truth are difficult to change their position.
In fact, China's successful attempt to deeply integrate human rights in democracy vividly interprets the diversity of democratic forms and human rights civilizations.
The theory and practice of democracy and human rights must conform to the country's history and reality, as well as the national tradition and culture.
China adheres to the concept of continuous improvement, system improvement and adaptive change, which has made the construction of democracy to a new level.
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About the Author:
He Zhipeng, born in Shuangcheng, Heilongjiang, Ph.D. in law, postdoctoral fellow in economics.
Jilin University Law School, Theoretical Law Research Center, and the School of Public Diplomacy are professors and doctoral tutors.
Dean of the Law School of Jilin University, Executive Director of the Human Rights Research Center of Jilin University, Director of the International Law Research Center of the Jilin University Law School, part-time researcher of the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University, Executive Director of the China Society of International Law, Executive Director of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, and China International Economic Law Society Vice President, Executive Director of China Private International Law Research Association, etc.
In 2016, he was selected as a Young Scholar of the Changjiang Scholars Award Program of the Ministry of Education. In 2017, he was selected as the eighth “National Top Ten Outstanding Young Jurists”. In 2021, he was selected as a leading talent in the National Ten Thousand Talents Program.