In the white paper “China’s Democracy”, China promoted and praised itself for implementing “the whole process of people’s democracy.” Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng also said: “China is a well-deserved democratic country.” These words suddenly opened my mind, as if Bai Juyi’s “Suddenly Hearing of Fairy Mountains on the Sea” in “Song of Everlasting Regret”; but, where is the “fairy mountain”? But it is “the mountain is in the void.” Thus, there is such a poetic title today.
(1) The future democratic public opinion war will be more intense
Looking at the current situation, this democratic propaganda and public opinion war is unavoidable. There are three reasons:
──The recent reason is the Beijing Winter Olympics. China hopes that “all the stars will shine and all nations will come to North Korea.” However, while China is “working hard to build”, the United States is “destroying as much as possible.” Therefore, China must fight back in a timely and redoubled effort.
──The medium-term reason is the “20th National Congress” of the Communist Party of China next year. The Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping, who seeks to continue to play a central role, are bound to work hard to prevent the democratic offensive in Europe and the United States from turning into “factors of instability within China.” Recently, Chen Xi, the head of the Organization Department of the Central Committee, mentioned in the People’s Daily that “the fundamental plan of successors must be taken care of”, and the issue of successor standards reflects that this sensitive issue of inner-party democracy sometimes conceals and sometimes emerges. Therefore, you must first stabilize.
──The reason for the long distance lies in the future, and China has been counted: even if the United States tried to play the “human rights card” and the “democracy card” in the past and failed to retreat, under the new situation, the United States will play human rights and democracy again This is because the human rights and democracy cards in the past were only combined by Europe and the United States, but the future will be a global war waged by the United States. Moreover, there are more elements involved, including at least Taiwan, Hong Kong and countries and regions along the “Belt and Road”. Therefore, the situation of this propaganda and public opinion war will be more intense, the situation will be more complicated, and it will involve a wider range of economic and trade and “sanctions wars.”
(2) China’s blame for the United States is partly well-founded, but its own reasoning is pale
──China’s accusations on the human rights situation in the United States, “democratic practice chaos”, external “exporting democracy”, “democratic transformation” and “color revolution” (see the report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “Democracy in the United States” for details) are justified , I don’t all object to it. This is a long-term manifestation of the dominance of the United States, and it is also one of the sources of chaos in the world, so we should be vigilant.
──However, China claims to be “the most extensive, true, and effective” “whole process people’s democracy”, claiming to achieve “process democracy and outcome democracy, procedural democracy and substantive democracy, direct and indirect democracy, and people’s democracy and democracy.” “The unity of the will of the country” is also lacking in justification, and there is not enough and recognized examples to support it, so it appears pale; neither popular nor bloody, it has become a self-talking propaganda caliber.
Let’s look at one of the key points, which is “unity with the will of the state.” This indirectly expresses the true theme, “democracy must cooperate and even obey the will of the party and state.” China also criticized the West, saying that “democracy is not an ornament” and depends on the people’s voting rights, broad participation rights, supervision and control rights, and the degree of fulfillment of promises after elections. But what is ridiculous is that these are also criticized issues in China, and I feel tired of talking about them (see the October 20 Japanese column article “Pros and cons must be disproved! Your deputies to the National People’s Congress?”).
──Look at another “reason” that “China’s democracy is better than the West” is that “no matter how big or high the official is, once violations of discipline and law are discovered, they will be severely punished by the party discipline and the state law” (Tian Peiyan, deputy director of the Policy Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ). Yes, there are such examples, but the key is to punish them “once they are discovered.” What if they are “not discovered”, or if they are known but not revealed? In fact, it is very common for officials to guard each other, selective law enforcement, party discipline first and then state law. These realities made China’s argument against the United States suddenly become the “Song of Everlasting Regret” in “Eternal Regret, no one collects the land, and Cuiqiao Jinque jade scratches its head.” How can it justify it?
(3) How can China win the “democratic propaganda war”?
In fact, it is possible for China to strive for the initiative, not only to win the battle of democratic public opinion, but also to gradually establish a democratic system acceptable to the people. The step-by-step method is as follows:
──First, admit your shortcomings frankly (and even have some serious problems), and then talk about your strengths and future development direction. China is in a weak position in international public opinion. This is a method of retreat and advance. Only by avoiding the edge of its opponents can it gain a firm foothold.
However, this kind of thinking does not conform to the political character of the CCP. They worry that if the frozen ground loosens a piece, there will be irreparable fractures. Therefore, they will only continue to worsen the stubborn diseases of the “four knowledges” and “four ignorances”, that is: knowing and not knowing to retreat; knowing courage but not knowing how to know; knowing and teaching (training the other party) but not knowing (introspecting); knowing that the present is prosperous I don’t know the lessons of history. Liu Xiangcheng, the winner of the “Plitz Live Press Photography Award” from the United States, who is friendly to China, also believes that China’s ability to tell stories to the outside world needs to be improved. Such”).
─Re-promote the democratic reforms that have been proposed or tried, such as the “Intra-Party Democracy” and “Progressive Democracy” of the 1980s, and work hard to put them into practice. I remember that Zhong Peizhang, the late head of the Central Propaganda Department and Jiang Zemin’s university classmate, was invited to Zhongnanhai to have a detailed discussion with Jiang Zemin on December 3, 2000, and proposed “realizing democratic constitutionalism”, “from the rule of man to the rule of law”, and “giving the people ideas.” “Freedom” and other suggestions. At that time, Wang Huning, who was in charge of ideological and policy research, was also present. Jiang Zemin also said: “Personal fame and gain should be taken lightly”, “Our Communist Party must not be afraid of the slogan of democracy. Why corruption is because democracy is not enough.” (For details, see Zhong Peizhang’s “A Meeting with Jiang Zemin”)
──If the official believes that the above two points are not yet fully implemented, let the people discuss it first, so that the outside world feels that the official has the willingness to explore openly. Some people may think that this is just a façade, but if you don’t even want to do it, it’s even sadder. Of course, the scope and content of public discussions must go beyond the limits of the official accent, otherwise it will only become a theoretical retreat with “no substance and no soul.”
– Make good use of the characteristics of Hong Kong. Don’t regard Hong Kong’s advantages as taboos. Instead, use Hong Kong as a focal point for resolving internal and external pressures and contradictions. When it comes to this issue, I feel disheartened again. I have exposed many savages on this issue several times (see the article “Surgery Positions of Sino-US Relaxation-Hong Kong” on November 11 last year for details). Not only is I still a “savage”, but the situation is even tighter than before. . Is it really like the ending sentence of “Song of Everlasting Regret”: “Forever and the earth will end, and this hatred will never end”?
