Ahead of US President Joe Biden's 'Summit for Democracy', China has claimed that its authoritarian One-Party System is another form of Democracy that works better than the American Political System.
As the US President did not invite China, Russia and some other countries to attend the Summit, the Asian Giant is trying hard to convince the Global Community that a superior version of Democracy exists in China. The top political leadership in Beijing has also denounced the Summit as an 'exercise in hypocrisy', saying that the President Biden wants to promote the US hegemony through this two-day event.
Beijing released a 13,000-word white paper, titled "China: Democracy That Works" on Saturday, in order to defend its one-party system. A section of the white paper reads: "There is no fixed model of democracy; it manifests itself in many forms. Assessing the myriad political systems in the world against a single yardstick and examining diverse political structures in monochrome are in themselves undemocratic."
Later on Sunday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry launched an attack on the American Democracy, stating that the Capitol riot, 'Black Lives Matter' Movement and Washington's pandemic response showcased deep-rooted flaws, dysfunction and chaos of the US Political System. It may be noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping had stressed that there should be a need for each and every country to "struggle for international discourse power" way back in 2015. "If you're backward, you'll be beaten up; if you're poor, you'll have to starve; if you can't speak, you'll get a scolding," he reportedly said.
Meanwhile, the International Community has never accepted the Chinese Political System as Democracy. Even after ruling for more than seven decades, the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) is not ready to ensure the separation of powers, independence of the judiciary, freedom of association, expression and opinion, periodic free and fair elections by universal suffrage or independent media. Earlier, the UN claimed that these were essential elements of a Democratic System.
Political Experts, too, have strongly criticized Beijing for projecting its authoritarian One-Party System as a different form of Democracy. Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an expert on Chinese Politics at Hong Kong Baptist University, stressed: "This is a preemptive strike against Biden's Democracy Summit. Now, China feels that it needs to be not only on the defensive, but also on the offensive, as well." For his part, senior Political Scientist at the University of Chicago Dali Yang said: "This is a struggle over the global discourse on democracy. They (Chinese officials) have got used to the idea that if you assert something and repeat it enough times, you can actually go a long way."
The Summit for Democracy is scheduled to be held on Thursday and Friday, and more than 120 countries would take part in the event.
