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01 Editorial | Democracy must pursue good governance and good governance

2022-10-30T00:16:30.730Z


After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China elected a new leadership, the outside world focused on the so-called factional struggle, especially in the financial market. But if you jump out of the Western perspective, the "Twenty Congress" will not engage in the


After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China elected a new leadership, the outside world focused on the so-called factional struggle, especially in the financial market.

But if we jump out of the Western perspective, the "20th National Congress" does not engage in "ticking" when mulling candidates, but recommends through conversations. In fact, it is to find leaders who can truly improve people's lives and serve the people. Bring out the authenticity and effectiveness of democracy.


Since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China five years ago, the CCP has emphasized that it will not engage in "hype pushes" and "ticketing", and instead conduct in-depth discussions and research to form a new leadership.

This is because the CCP believes that the more votes it gets, the more diligent the government and the people will be.

Those who hold important positions and current leaders are not "iron chairs" or "iron hats."

The formation process is mainly based on the candidates' political performance, integrity and career needs.

The Politburo members of the "20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China" not only have long-term experience in the bureaucracy, but also about one third of them have outstanding performance in economics and business management, and four of them are scientific and technological experts.

Li Qiang, the second-ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee and second only to General Secretary Xi Jinping, was seen by many people only as a tough lockdown of the city when he was the secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee earlier this year, but he attached great importance to the development of the private economy when he was in power in Wenzhou and Zhejiang Province. And technological development has made Zhejiang a digital city, a major experimental area for unmanned stores and artificial intelligence services.

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China opened last week, and Xi Jinping delivered a speech.

(CCTV screenshot)

Elections do not guarantee good governance and good governance

The method of CCP leadership is obviously different from the mainstream electoral democracy in the West.

Compared with votes, the CCP pays more attention to the results of governance, and even establishes a legitimate basis for governing.

Including the internal anti-corruption management of the party, the achievements in economic development and modernization have become one of the powerful proofs that the CCP reflects the legitimacy of governance.

In the West, which uses votes as its source of legitimacy, its electoral democracy has been repeatedly challenged in recent years.

The recent turmoil in Britain's Conservative Party reflects the gap between elections and democracy, democracy and governance.

Although Zhuohuisi did not become Prime Minister through the British general election, at least she was elected by popular vote of Conservative Party members. It cannot be said that she did not have the authorization of public opinion.

Moreover, in the Westminster parliamentary system, the people always choose the party rather than the leader directly. Zhuo Huisi is in charge of Downing Street but according to the established procedures and justice.

However, the support of voters does not mean that Zhuohuisi is capable of doing his job well.

She was able to gain the support of most grass-roots party members in the Conservative Party, just because many people didn't like Xin Weicheng. After taking office, she lost popular support because of the introduction of a "mini-budget", causing a crisis of economic confidence.

Democracy is simplified, politicians are like passers-by

On the contrary, Xin Weicheng, who did not have the support of the majority of party members, won the support of the majority of Conservative MPs after Zhuo Huisi announced his resignation. He was able to become the party leader without a competitor and took over last Tuesday (25th). British Prime Minister.

He became a leader without any elections, but that doesn't necessarily mean he was incapable of governing.

Of course, time will tell, but at least for now, the political and business world seems to have some confidence in the unelected leader.

Electoral politics in the West undoubtedly has its advantages. Churchill once said that "democracy is the worst system among other systems."

It ensures that unpopular politicians and parties do not stay in power for long, such as Trump, Johnson and others.

But Western democracies focus only on preventing tyranny and almost completely ignore how to elect leaders of good governance.

Replacing Trump and Johnson with democratic elections does not guarantee good governance at all.

In recent years, the governments of Western countries have generally fallen short-lived, and politicians have passed by like passers-by.

If we do not face up to the problem of democratic chaos, I am afraid that the existing democratic system will continue to be in chaos, unable to realize a real and comprehensive democracy.

The picture shows that on October 20, 2022, British Prime Minister James Zhuohuisi announced his resignation outside the Prime Minister's Office.

(AP)

Democratic government must serve the people

Behind this round of turmoil in the United Kingdom also involves another deep-seated problem - the encroachment of democratic politics by laissez-faire capitalism.

Laissez-faire capitalism believes that the "invisible hand" of the market is the best rationality to regulate everything, but the governance model of "big market, small government" has been plagued by abuses in recent years.

Especially since the financial tsunami, the people found that the "invisible hand" could not solve many of the problems they faced, and turned to the government for action.

But the laissez-faire capitalism of the past few decades has fostered a "small government" that suddenly puts the burden of governance on the government and politicians, making them uncomfortable.

It's no wonder that Western democracies are powerless to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the contrary, the CCP, which pursues socialism, is convinced that the government has the responsibility of the overall designer of the economy and society.

Even though China introduced capital and markets after the reform and opening up, the central government did not allow the market to control everything, and the government and officials still assumed most of the responsibility for management.

Officials are not the watchmen of the market, but actively regulate the market, prevent the disorderly expansion of capital, and formulate policies to guide economic development.

Therefore, China will not allow a financial tsunami to occur, and it can respond quickly and forcefully to major emergencies such as the new crown epidemic.

In the final analysis, because the CCP believes that democracy is not just about votes, nor is it just a process for generating leaders, nor is it the capital or the market. Democracy must truly improve people’s livelihood and solve problems for the people.

That's why President Xi Jinping said, "Party leadership and democracy are unified, not antagonistic, and the two cannot be neglected. We must determine a reasonable democratic method, improve the inspection method, and further improve the quality and effectiveness of democracy."

In fact, the "Three Principles of the People" proposed by Sun Yat-sen, who founded modern China, includes the "People's Livelihood Principle", which aims to let the people live and enjoy happiness on an equal footing. US President Lincoln also pointed out that the government should be "owned by the people, governed by the people, and enjoyed by the people." (of the people, by the people, for the people), which includes serving the people.

The government held a symposium on the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

(Information Services Department)

Hong Kong government needs to improve governance capacity

Reflecting on democracy is not an academic discussion off the ground, it is actually very personal to Hong Kong.

Since the handover, Hong Kong people have long equated political reform with winning universal suffrage for the chief executive and the Legislative Council, assuming that as long as there is double universal suffrage, all problems in Hong Kong will be resolved, and even good governance will automatically be brought about.

But good governance is not directly related to whether there is universal suffrage or not. In the past, Hong Kong Governor MacLehose, who has been praised by Hong Kong people in the past, was appointed by the British government.

On the contrary, the failure to achieve universal suffrage does not mean that the SAR Government and the Legislative Council cannot solve economic and social problems.

At present, Hong Kong has failed to gain mutual trust and consensus with the central government on the issue of universal suffrage, but we must still pursue good governance and good governance.

Whether the government is good or bad depends on whether they can resolve the deep-seated conflicts for the people of Hong Kong and promote the development of Hong Kong.

After the "20th National Congress", the Li Jiachao government held a "20th National Congress" spiritual symposium last Friday (28th).

Although Li Jiachao mentioned that the central government "supports Hong Kong's economic development, improves people's livelihood, and solves the deep-seated contradictions and problems in economic and social development," he must understand the spirit of the "Twenty National Congress". One of the key points is to modernize the governance system and governance capacity, improve Democratic quality and effectiveness.

We hope that government leaders can effectively improve their governance capabilities and truly achieve "people's enjoyment" and "people's livelihood".

01Editorial|The solution of deep-seated contradictions begins with Li Jiachao’s steps

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-10-30

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