Six advantages of China's political system

Chinese triumphalism has found expression in this op-ed in China's largest English-language daily, citing an editorial in the Singapore Chinese-language press. Each point in the op-ed can, of course, be qualified or rebutted. Still, each reflects the combined effects of excessive despondency in the West and overconfidence in China. The aim is to legitimize the weakest element in contemporary China, the Chinese political system, less by extolling it than by comparing it with Western systems that are now seen as even weaker.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-03/19/content_9615376.htm

Six advantages of China's political system

China Daily: 2010-03-19

On March 10, Singapore's zaobao.com published an opinion written by its columnist Song Luzhen entitled "Why is China Superior to the West in the Political System".

In his article, Song pointed out that the great achievements of the China Model will undoubtedly lead to a global study of it, but all of these studies have one flaw in common: evading the great importance of China's political system. Actually, he wrote, the real unique characteristics of China is its effective political system, which is the reason China could make great economic achievements and pave a completely different way to modernization named China Model. The author summarized six major advantages of China's political system compared with the Western multiparty system.

The first advantage, he wrote, is that under the one-party system， China could formulate a long-term plan for national development and ensure stabilization of its policies without being affected by the alternation of parties with different positions and ideologies.

The second one lies in its high efficiency, and promptly effective reaction to emerging challenges and opportunities, Song added, especially in response to sudden and catastrophic accidents. He gave some examples as follows: Terminal Three of Beijing Capital International Airport built for the Beijing Olympics was finished in three years, which is not enough time for the approval process in the West. In 2008, after the Wenchuan earthquake that hits once in a generation, China impressed the whole world by its fast and efficient response.

The third is its effective containment of corruption in the social transition period. Song pointed out that China is in a period of economic prosperity and social transition, which is generally faced with large amounts of corruption throughout human history. However, compared with India and Russia in the same period, China has far less corruption.

The fourth is a more responsible government. He said, in democratic societies, many officials are elected with fixed terms, and they then will not fall out of power before the expiration unless they break the law or make wrong decisions or take no action. Once their terms expire, they will not be blamed for any problem. In China, however, the Principal Officials Accountability System is gradually improved and officials must be responsible for their incompetence, negligence of duty or mistakes at any time.

The fifth one, he stressed, lies in its personnel training and selecting system and avoiding the waste of talented people. In practice, China's systems of selection from one level to another and conscious personnel training is superior to the West's election system.

The last one is that one party (Chinese Communist Party) can truly represent the whole people. He wrote that under the Western multiparty system, each party represents different interest groups. But in China, since the reform and opening up, economic policies have been made without special bias in favor of any interest groups.