By Weiguang Zhong
There used to be a “Wenhua China” (文化中國). Western scholars such as John King Fairbank have observed and described it. I would like to re-raise the issue and take a look at how China evolved from that to a modern state, a politics-centric state, and later a Party-centric state.
I hope this article can offer people a new angle to re-look at China and re-think its future.
Since becoming the new leader of China in late 2012, Xi Jinping has publically advocated “依法治国,” which Chinese and Western media have often translated as the “rule of law.” However, many legal scholars and professionals, as well as observers familiar with Chinese political history, are skeptical that the country will be successful in reforming its legal system. The reason is simple: for a country controlled by the Communist Party, it is the Party, not the law, that rules the country.
Then, why does Xi Jinping, such a savvy and ambitious politician, keep talking about the rule of law?
By Dr. Shizhong Chen
Many who have been holding their breath over the intense showdown in Hong Kong probably missed a leisure moment of entertainment in Beijing.
They should not, for the event in Beijing gave clues to discern the forces that are trying to direct the outcome of the Umbrella Movement.
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(Revised)
Since early 2012, when then Chongqing police Chief Wang Lijun, attempted to defect to the U.S., an intense political drama has been on display in China. This drama, titled “The Battle at Zhongnanhai,” has included multiple episodes, including the downfall of Bo Xilai, the smashing of “flies,” and the “tiger hunt” of Zhou Yongkang and Xu Caihou. Many people are expecting the next episode to be the capture of the “spider” (Jiang Zemin). [1]
Don’t underestimate the drama. It is a battle between China’s current top leader Xi Jinping and a former top leader, Jiang Zemin, with the full support of Jiang’s faction. Also, it breaks the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) long tradition of confining their operations and in-fighting to a closed circle. It is the first time that the CCP has openly displayed its internal struggle on the world stage and it even uses the world stage to conduct its campaign.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ghost is still behind every building block of Chinese society, while China’s economy has expanded to a scale comparable to that of the U.S. People who live in a society that doesn’t require having to face the CCP in their daily lives tend to underestimate the Party’s impact.
Although the U.S. government and the American people have never been China’s enemy, due to their conflicting ideologies, U.S. democracy and its values have presented the biggest threat to the CCP’s continued existence. This has been particularly true since the CCP attempted economic openness at the international level, while still trying to keep its political system unchanged. How the communist regime views and treats U.S.-China relations has therefore become quite complex.
The U.S.-Sino Relationship
Differences Between the Governing Principles of the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Previously, this series focused on the differences between the United States and China as to their foundations and theoretical underpinnings. While America’s Founding Principles grew out of a revolutionary war fought for freedom and the rights of the governed, the Communist Party fought a revolutionary war to establish its authoritarian rule. While the U.S. based its legitimacy on the consent of the governed, Mao Zedong proclaimed in Chapter Five of The Little Red Book, “Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” While the U.S. adopted a Constitution designed to limit governmental power and guarantee specific individual rights, the Communist Party designed the Chinese government to assure its supremacy over China and ensure that it was firmly ensconced in power.”