SUN WUKONG General and scholar test reform waters
By Wu Zhong, China Editor
HONG KONG - About two years before President Hu Jintao and other top Chinese
leaders retire from office, there are growing public calls for them to start
political reforms.
This time, the calls for democratization and the rule of law are not being made
by political dissidents but by prominent figures from the pro-establishment
camp. This indicates that more liberal-minded members within the establishment,
increasingly impatient with slow progress in reforms, are worried that a
failure to make political changes that keep pace with economic transformation
will result in violent conflicts within society and the ruin of all that
has been achieved in the past few decades.
Lieutenant General Liu Yazhou, political commissar of the People's Liberation
Army's (PLA) University of National Defense, the training school for PLA
generals, boldly predicts that China will have to replace its current
authoritarian political system with a democratic one in the coming decade
because there is no "way of escape" for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). That
was according to a media report on August 5.
Two days later, Hu Xingdou, an economics professor with the Beijing Institute
of Technology (BIT) best known for his studies of disadvantaged groups in
China, publicized on his website an open petition to President Hu Jintao,
entitled "China's Road To Ruin And The Way Out". In the letter, he claims that
the death of social fairness and justice is putting China on a perilous path.
The only remedy is to launch political reforms to truly give people back their
constitutional rights and freedoms.
Liu's prediction is contained in an article in the latest issue of the Phoenix
Weekly, a publication of the pro-Beijing Phoenix TV based in Hong Kong. Perhaps
because of the boldness of Liu's remarks on such a sensitive topic, the article
was published with an Editor's Note that it was based on an exclusive interview
with Liu and published without him seeing the final version.
The article starts with Liu's harsh criticisms of "money worship" prevailing in
China. Liu says that now the whole Chinese nation, from top to bottom, worships
the strength of money while neglecting soft power such as culture and ideology.
"Having more money does not mean the increase of soft power ... A nation that
worships the strength of money is a backward and foolish one, both in terms of
its internal governance and international expansion," Liu said.
Internally, "corruption becomes China's largest economic loss, largest social
evil and largest political challenge", the general said. Internationally, money
worship has badly damaged China's image. For example, Liu said China's
investment mode in Africa is to bribe local officials, and as a result, local
officials' appetite for bribes grows bigger and bigger while ordinary Africans
become increasingly averse to the Chinese government and enterprises.
Without democracy, it is impossible for China to continue on a long-lasting
upward trajectory, Liu said. "A system is bound to fall, if it fails to let its
citizens breathe freely and enable them to maximally realize their creativity,
and if it fails to send those to the leadership who can best represent this
system and the people."
Taking the former Soviet Union as an example, Liu pointed out that what caused
the collapse of the Soviet communist party was its system, not an economic or
military failure. In an apparent allusion to current practices in China, Liu
said that the Soviet Union used to set the maintenance of stability as its
priority, "putting stability above everything else and trying to use money to
solve all problems. But in the end [social] conflicts intensified and things
turned to their opposite."
In comparison, the very secret of the United States' success lies in its
long-lasting rule of law and the system behind the rule of law, not in Wall
Street or Silicon Valley.
Therefore, according to Liu, China must change its political system.
"Restructuring our political system is a task endowed to us by history. There
is no way of escape for us," Liu said. He predicted that "within 10 years, a
transformation from an authoritarian political system to a democratic one will
inevitably take place. Great changes will be witnessed in China."
The 57-year-old PLA general, son-in-law of late president Li Xiannian and thus
himself a princeling, is widely seen as a rising political star in the CCP and
PLA but also a Young Turk because his outspoken speeches and writings often
violate many taboos and restrictions. He is now also a member of the CCP's
Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection, China's top anti-graft
watchdog.
Given his position and background, it is no surprise that Liu's remarks on
political reforms immediately aroused feverish public attention. The Phoenix
Weekly article has so far been widely reprinted or reported on and discussed on
major Chinese websites.
Yang Hengjun, a popular blog writer, told Deutsche Welle that "It is shocking
for any other PLA general to say such words. But I'm not surprise that they
were spoken by outspoken Liu Yazhou, who said similar words before. Liu is a
person of conscience and foresight." In Yang's view, Liu spoke out for many
inside the CCP. "Things can hardly go on in China as they are today. The CCP
can hardly continue its rule like it does today. There must by changes, though
people may have different views on how to make changes."
Some political analysts in Beijing believe Liu's remarks suggest the
princelings and younger elites in the party are eager to gain a greater say in
political affairs. They also hope expression of liberal views may help them to
win greater popularity in the run-up to the 18th party congress in late 2012.
"The princelings, who think it is their destiny to safeguard what their parents
or grandparents fought for, are worried that the CCP may lose its legitimacy to
rule if nothing is done to make political progress. Also they certainly hope to
benefit more from the reshuffle [in] two years," one of them says.
But some netizens criticize Liu's view about the success of the US. "His
understanding that the success of the US lies in its rule of law and system
[behind it] is superficial. One may ask then, from where has the US derived its
rule of law and system?"
Like Liu, Hu Xingdou is concerned with the failure of the existing political
system in China. In his open petition to President Hu, he said governance in
China had yet to find the "right track". In order to maintain stability and
safeguard their power and vested interests, many local governments "make use of
lies, violent means, false charges, labor re-education, triad societies,
illegal prisons and lunatic asylums, to detain journalists, informants and
people who hold different views," he wrote. As a result, "[social] fairness and
justice have already died. This is the biggest failure of the governance of the
current administration."
Hu Xingdou attributed the unfairness and injustice to the existing system,
featured in "the integration between administration, legislation, supervision
and judiciary, the integration between officials and business people, and the
integration between the party and state." As a result, he said, China was on a
road to ruin.
The way out is to build what he called "constitutional socialism", making
social justice the very foundation of governance. "I advocate a road of gradual
reforms that are in accord with China's own national conditions. I don't
advocate a road of totally Westernized liberty. I call it constitutional
socialism."
In interviews with media after posting the petition, Hu Xingdou elaborated on
the concept that constitutional socialism was the combination of constitutional
government with justice. In short, socialism and CCP rule must abide by the
constitution. Coming down to details, in his opinion people must be given back
constitutional rights and freedoms, such as the rights of election and
supervision of government, and the freedom of speech and publication
Hu Xingdou said he advocated a road of gradual change because many
intellectuals agreed that China must avoid another violent revolution. So only
a gradualist, evolutionary approach to push forward social progress and
development was in the interests of the vast majority of the people. And he
made it clear that his approach was pro-establishment: "After all, socialism is
acceptable to the ruling party. Therefore this [my] proposal is one for
moderate reforms."
Hu Xingdou said that while his open petition was addressed to the president, he
had also passed copies to some top leaders through friends. It is not important
whether Hu Jintao responded, the scholar said; what is important "is to wake up
the masses and cadres in the establishment so that they will know the truth and
understand how to improve our nation and push forward social progress."
Analysts say it is probably no coincidence that Liu Yazhou and Hu Xingdou make
public appeals for political reforms at about the same time. It is likely that
there is at present a debate at the top, and the liberal camp wants its views
publicized to test reactions from within the party and the general public.
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