China's limited experiment with local democracy has ended. The recent announcement by China's government on a ban on further direct elections for township officials proves that the 1998 township election at Buyun township (
The direct election of village officials is still allowed but, 10 years after its implementation, this has proved to be of limited effect. In such village elections, the candidates are often figureheads appointed by the party, which gives the villagers no real opportunity to choose the representatives they want. Besides, as villages are not part of the government under China's law, the people are still denied any power to shape their own government.
Furthermore, elected village officials, especially those not nominated by the party, often suffer unfortunate fates for being "disobedient" or "uncooperative." Often, they have been illegally removed by township leaderships, although the relevant law states village officials can only be removed by the approval of a majority of voters. In other instances, disobedient village officials have been slapped with jail sentences for "disorderly" conduct. This is what the PRC leadership calls "democracy with Chinese characteristics" at work.
The China Youth News (
These two instances had happy endings as the relevant village officials were either reinstated or had their sentences overturned. But most other such incidents do not end this way. The impact these incidents have on "uncooperative" village officials is all too imaginable -- they become party figureheads in no time. They soon learn that pleasing the party, rather than serving the people, is what helps them keep their jobs and stay out of jail.
There is no rosy prospect for democracy in China in the foreseeable future. An important condition for democracy, reasonable standards of literacy, remains a dream. China's Ministry of Education recently conceded there are as many as 87 million illiterate adults in China, and that curbing illiteracy in poverty-stricken and rural areas remains a major problem.
This works to the regime's benefit. Uneducated people do not know they have rights, so they will be cooperative with China's government. Also, uneducated people are more susceptible to the indoctrination of radical Chinese nationalism which further distracts them from the discontent they ought to feel toward their government because of poverty and lack of rights.
The negative, dismaying attitudes toward democracy that China shows in backtracking on direct elections has another implication. China is not eager to comply with World Trade Organization (WTO) requirements. The most fundamental WTO principle is free trade. Currently, townships in China are important state-owned and controlled economic production and business units. In appointing leaders, China's government shows its intention to keep its talons hooked into these units and remain a centrally planned economy. To those believing that a miraculous liberalization of China's economy is in sight, this manipulation of the political system should come as a rude awakening.
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