On September 16, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship publication Qiushi published a speech that Chinese President Xi Jinping gave five years ago. The speech emphasizes that copying the political system of another country will not work and will ruin China’s future. Xi gave the speech on September 5, 2014, at the 60th anniversary of the founding of the National People’s Congress of China. The whole speech focused on the superiority of the Chinese political system, especially the “People’s Congress representation” system, and the rejection of Western democratic politics.
In his speech, Xi said that the wrong choice of political path has led to many cases of social turmoil, divided nations, a regime change, and the death of people. Xi added that China is a large developing nation. “Holding onto the right path of political development” is a “major issue of fundamental and overall importance.”
Xi continued that to design and develop the national political system, one must adhere to the national conditions and the actual situation. Seeing that other countries have something and China does not, someone may think that “there is a deficiency and we need to copy it.” Seeing that China has something but other countries do not, someone may think that, “It is superfluous and has to go.” The two views are simplistic and one-sided and “are both incorrect.”
Xi mentioned that one needs to learn from the “beneficial results” of foreign political civilizations, but “we must not give up the fundamentals of China’s political system.” “Which model can we follow? Who can tell us what to do?”
Xi claimed that the key to developing a socialist democracy is to expand, instead of weaken, its advantages and special characteristics. One must persist in the “core leading role of the Party in controlling the overall situation and coordinating with all players.”
Source: Central News Agency, September 16, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201909160114.aspx