Protesters
take to the streets of Hong Kong to appeal to people
to
join them for an upcoming protest against the bureaucracy,
capitalism,
the financial system and rising property prices, Oct. 9.
People's Daily, People's
Republic of China
Chinese Don’t Need
'Occupy Wall Street'
Does highly-centralized
decision-making explain how China had sidestepped the growing economic crisis? According
to columnist Liu Zhiqin of China's state-run Global Times and reprinted
in the People's Daily, China's developmental path doesn't require street
protests, which he claims reflects one of the strengths of its model of 'democratic
reform.'
Beijing's worry: Protesters shout slogans at a rally in the financial district east of Manila, Philippines, Oct. 21. At the event, called in support of the wave of protests around the globe known as 'Occupy Wall Street,' protesters singled out the country's three big oil companies as 'greedy for profit.'
The method of development in
different countries has become a hot topic over recent years. It is hard to
determine which is best, but all can agree that what is suitable for a particular
country is therefore best for the country.
Let's take the system of
centralized authority as an example. Centralized authority has been a mainstream
feature of political systems in almost every Asian country for thousands of
years. China has long practiced it: vertically centralized authority governs all of
the nation's walks of life, and power is centralized in the hands of
social administrators. It might be said that Asians are quite adapted to this
type of system. Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The success of China's Reform
and Opening-Up has proven the necessity and importance of centralized authority
in such a complicated and diverse country. It is unjust for some to deny or
impugn the positive aspects of centralization. In fact, China never completely adopted
Asian centralized authority, but rather developed and
carried forward the system's advantages while weakening the system's disadvantages
as much as possible.
The greatest challenge of Asian-style
centralization lies in how to balance "power, rights and interests." While social
administrators have the power, is is not enoght that they respect the rights of the
masses in word. They should also endeavor to translate this to tangibly serve their interests. The reason for
the problems facing Chinese society is that social administrators lack the capacity
to fully turn individual rights promised under the Constitution into the
interests enjoyed by all.
For the past several weeks, many
Americans have staged public demonstrations in hope of boosting interests they
regard as their fundamental rights. But Wall Street's magnates are reluctant to
give up their influence. Furthermore, it unlikely for the system as it exists
in the U.S. to harmonize so as to bring the "Occupy Wall Street"
movement to a satisfactory conclusion. That is why Chinese must think in their own way and
not rashly battle themselves when discussing the advantages and disadvantages
of patterns of development in other countries.
Downtown
Sydney, Australia, Oct. 19. As the 'Occupy' movement
spreads
across the world, Beijing is looking to head off any such
It has been proven over the
past 20 years that a country will achieve success if its development path meets
the needs of its people. Whether or not a country should adopt Western standards
depends on whether such standards meet the needs of its people. Japan has strictly
followed the Western path of development and succeeded, while China has adopted
a unique development path and has also made remarkable progress. The experiences
and mistakes of foreign nations are "treasure" for China's
development. But China has the right to make use of this "treasure trove"
in its own way.
There are nearly 200
sovereign countries, and each has its own "road to success." A
country will achieve success if its development path suits its own conditions, otherwise
it will regress and encounter problems. Industrialization, urbanization, modernization,
and other elements that make up a country's "hardware" are relatively
easy to achieve, while democratic reform and other aspects that make up the "software"
are far more difficult. If not properly handled, they will cause great trouble.
In view of this, China should
remain patient and prudent in carrying out democratic reforms step by step. The
popular “street politics” in the United States and European countries should
serve as a wake-up call for Chinese leaders to clear-headedly develop national
development strategies.
