Is Democracy Possible in China?

In late January, two previous ambassadors to China (Gary Locke and Jon Huntsmen) came together at the 1990 Institute's 25th Gala to discuss U.S./China relations. They spoke about the American policy shifts towards China, China's recent achievements (Beijing Olympics, space program, economy), and the importance of Chinese-Americans in the U.S./China equation. (See posts one, two, three). The final question of the night was, "Is Democracy in China possible?"

Gary Locke: Obviously, the Communist government is very, very strong, and it still is a Communist country.  I do believe that the more that Chinese people from the mainland come to visit and experience and witness our imperfect democracy, but our diversity and the egalitarianism where a person can rise from a very poor background to become a head of a major corporation or a university president or a governor or president of the U.S., the more the Chinese are able to come to the U.S. to see and experience first hand, perhaps it will whet their appetite when they go back to China to want some of the same for their country, and perhaps hasten that progress and reform within China. 

I do believe that change comes slowly in China, and the Chinese are so concerned about threats to the authority –the Communist party. That’s why there’s a crackdown on human rights. There’s a
crackdown on non-profit organizations, on the press, etc., etc. They spend more money on public security inside China than they do on their military.

They’re worried about corruption, about another food scam or environmental problem that could unleash the people of China leading to another Tiananmen Square. So, the Chinese government is really cracking down on people as they go through environmental reform –but I’m hopeful that with more exposure and more people-to-people visits--people from the west going to China and Chinese visiting America and other countries--that will hasten the time needed for greater Democracy.

**(February 19th President Xi JinPing said that "media should serve the party," and announced a regulation --to go in effect March 10--that will prevent foreign companies from publishing and distributing content online in China. In response, Chinese billionaire--and Communist Party Member-- Ren Zhiqiang blogged to his 38-million followers: "When did the people's government become the party's government?" The government immediately shut his blog down. )** 

Jon Huntsmen: If you were to ask the young kids in China twenty years ago who they admired most, it would have been Mao Tse Tung, Deng Xiao Ping, maybe someone else. If you ask today, I’d say the top three answers live twenty minutes down the road: Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Jack Ma--the innovators, the creators, the freedom-seekers. So there’s something happening with the younger generation. What will be most telling over the next couple of years will be whether or not a framework is created for them."