China's Wen says moving toward democracy
Posted on: Monday, 5 September 2005, 08:28 CDT
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.
Source: REUTERS
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