Democracy not a one-size-fits-all product: Chinese envoy

Democracy is not a one-size-fits-all product that has only one model or configuration for the whole world, a senior Chinese envoy in Australia has said in an article published on The Canberra Times on Wednesday.

"Whether a country is democratic or not should only be judged by its own people," Wang Xining, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Australia, said in the article titled "Why China's 'people's democracy' is a high-quality democracy."

"Democracy, ultimately, is whether the people can truly be the masters of their own country," Wang said, noting the whole-process people's democracy created by the Communist Party of China has secured extraordinary historical achievements.

In the article, Wang explained the whole-process people's democracy in China, which includes democratic elections, consultation, decision-making, management and supervision. "It is a model of socialist democracy that covers all aspects of the democratic process and all sectors of society," he said.

He pointed out people in some Western countries are awakened only to cast a vote but become dormant afterwards; they are offered great hopes during electoral campaigning but have no say afterwards; and they are offered fulsome promises during electoral canvassing but are left empty-handed afterwards. "That is no true democracy," he said.

Wang stressed "there is no best democracy, only better."

China never exports its democratic model as every country has the right to choose a democratic system that suits its own national conditions, he said, noting that history has repeatedly proven that "it is not feasible for China to copy the political system of other countries."

"We should adopt an attitude of inclusiveness, learn from the strengths of others, digest and absorb them in the light of China's national conditions, so that we can turn them into our own strength, better ensuring that the Chinese people are the true masters of the country."