China’s Wen says moving toward democracy

BEIJING (Reuters) – China, where the Communist Party has
enjoyed a monopoly on power since 1949, is moving surely toward
democracy, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Monday.

“China will press ahead with its development of democratic
politics, that is reconstruction, in an unswerving way,
including direct elections,” Wen told a news conference ahead
of an EU-China summit.

“If the Chinese people can manage a village, I believe in
several years they can manage a township. That would be an
evolving system.”

China has introduced direct elections for village chiefs in
more than 660,000 villages, and many of those elected are not
party members. But it has dragged its feet on expanding
suffrage for the election of officials at higher levels.

Wen has in the past defended the delay, saying China is a
vast, populous, underdeveloped country and levels of education
are inadequate.

Beijing’s limited experience with democracy, observing its
effects in the former British colony of Hong Kong, leaves it
far from convinced that the system is effective.

The Communist Party fears that if it were to allow full,
direct elections in Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese rule
in 1997, democratic winds would blow toward the mainland and
one day the people would vote it out of power, analysts say.