Over the past 16 years, the Chinese leadership has tried its best to dodge democratic reform while looking for alternative measures to stamp out rampant corruption and increase government efficiency. However, it seems to have recently come to the conclusion that there is just no way other than democratic reform.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has indicated that China will institute a program of democratic reforms, and Premier Wen Jiabao has given more detail, pledging to introduce direct elections at the township level “within a couple of years”.
…”China will press for democratic progress, unswervingly reestablish democracy, including direct elections,” the premier, who favors mild reform, told a news conference prior to the 8th EU-China summit on September 5. “If we Chinese people can manage a village, I believe they can manage a town in several years. This system [of direct voting] will be realized step by step.”
Visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who sat next to Wen, was reportedly “shocked” when he heard the premier’s remarks. Blair shouldn’t be surprised. What Wen is talking about is only a mild democratic reform package. Similar political schemes were introduced as early as 1988.
