CHINA WILL never become a Western-style multiparty democracy, and will stick to the principles of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the country’s top legislator told the annual parliament, the National People’s Congress.
The uncompromising comments by Wu Bangguo, head of the largely ceremonial parliament, appear to be a response to renewed calls from both inside and outside the country for greater liberalisation, including legalising opposition parties and direct elections for legislative bodies.
The Communist Party will focus on strengthening its leadership and making sure the “correct political orientation” was followed.
“We must draw on the achievements of all cultures, but we will never simply copy the system of Western countries or introduce a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation,” Mr Wu told delegates in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
“Although China’s state organs have different responsibilities, they all adhere to the line, principles and policies of the party,” he said.
Keeping the right political orientation meant to “organically integrate the leadership of the party, the position of the people as the masters of the country and the rule of law”, Mr Wu said. And central to this was the leadership of the party, which will continue to lay down the standards and priorities of the law.
“The Western model of a legal system cannot be copied mechanically in establishing our own,” he said.
His remarks were more forthright than in previous years, when there has been discussion about democratic reform and greater representation, although always within the context of the Communist Party.
China faces a number of sensitive anniversaries this year. Today marks 50 years since an uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet and one year since anti-Chinese riots in the city.
As well as that anniversary the government also has to deal with social unrest on the back of the slowing economy, plus the prospect of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre coming in June.
China is keen to avoid political trouble this year and among the main tasks of the National People’s Congress will be to come up with laws covering social welfare schemes such as healthcare, pensions and education.
The Beijing government said it was gearing up for violence as the one-year anniversary approaches. A police car and a fire engine in Golog, a Tibetan-populated region of northwest China, were hit yesterday with handmade explosives but no one was killed, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The protest involving dozens of people was triggered when police stopped a local timber truck for an identity check.
The revolt 50 years ago was sparked by rumours that the Dalai Lama would be kidnapped by the Chinese, who had occupied the country nine years before.
Tibet’s government in exile says tens of thousands of Tibetans were killed following the uprising, with more than 87,000 people dying between March and October of 1959 alone.