China’s state media said a multi-party political system would unleash chaos equal to the turbulent period of the Cultural Revolution, as the country marks the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 90th birthday.
The state-run Xinhua news agency, in a focus piece published late on Friday after the CCP celebrated the anniversary, said Western political systems did not suit China’s “national conditions.”
“If China imitates the West’s multi-party parliamentary democratic system, it could repeat the chaotic and turbulent history of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ when factions sprung up everywhere,” the report said.
Photo: Reuters
It added the current political turmoil, economic difficulties and social disorder in some countries “proved” this assertion.
The 1966 to 1976 Cultural Revolution was a decade of brutal chaos launched by revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) to bring down what he perceived as “capitalist” forces in the CCP after other leaders sought to move away from his radical utopian ideas.
Untold numbers died in the ensuing turmoil as students turned on teachers, officials were purged and the country and its economy were brought to a virtual standstill. The subject is still sensitive today.
The Xinhua comments came as Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) warned that the CCP — which was founded in July 1921 and took power in 1949 — faced severe “growing pains” in a speech Friday marking the anniversary.
However, he gave no sign that the party intended to loosen the iron grip on political power it has maintained for more than six decades.
The Xinhua report singled out huge economic growth over the past 30 years, that has lifted more than 200 million people out of poverty, as proof that the CCP was looking out for people’s “welfare” and had “legitimacy.”
However, analysts say political and social reforms do not match the nation’s economic success, adding that the party is struggling to address a range of complex problems without the flexibility that democracy affords.
These include a yawning wealth gap, high inflation, environmental degradation, demands for autonomy from ethnic minorities and regular reports of corrupt and abusive officials feed public anger.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not