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Govt, people join forces to usher in big changes

By Zhou Bajun (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-08 14:21

Over the past 30 years, a combined "upper" and "lower" path has been taken in China in pushing forward the reform and opening-up initiative. The "upper" refers to a spontaneous advancement by the country's top leadership, and the "lower" refers to innovative activities taken by ordinary people.

Had there been no combination of the two impulses, the country's reform and opening-up would not have scored such remarkable achievements.

Despite stagnation and even setbacks sometimes, the reform and opening-up process has generally pressed ahead in a smooth way.

Currently the reform of China's political system has witnessed tangible progress, thanks to a good combination of these two elements.

On the one hand, as the Internet booms, the civil society is now rapidly emerging in China. With the help of the Internet, more and more ordinary people are harboring ever-mounting enthusiasm to be involved into administration of State affairs. Among them, the generation born in the 1980s and even 90s appears to be particularly active.

A latest example is an open latter two students from a Beijing vocational college delivered on the Xinhuanet.com on May 30 to university students nationwide. In the letter, the two youths advocate self-confidence, self-support and self-improvement among young university students who have long been regarded as being excessively dependent on parents and lacking willpower and perseverance. The two advocate the youth to be a responsible generation. The letter was quickly spread on many influential websites and online forums, provoking strong resonances among massive young netizens.

On the other hand, the central and local Party and administrative departments in China have also used the Internet to disclose important policies and measures to the public in a timely manner, putting them under public monitoring and soliciting public support.

On May 30, the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee invited through the Internet public opinions on the use of the "special Party membership dues" that the country's Party members donated to Sichuan province and other regions that were hit by a deadly earthquake on May 12, to ensure that the donations could be really used for disaster areas and affected people.

On June 2, an official from the development and reform committee of earthquake-hit Sichuan province said that the time for post-quake reconstruction of the province will be temporarily set eight years, and that opinions and proposals from home and abroad, especially those from the quake-affected people, would be collected through the Internet.

A day later, the Ministry of Finance issued an emergency notice, demanding the information on the category, quantity and unit prices of all relief materials purchased for disaster areas should be made public in designated media to accept monitoring from the society.

These and more examples on the long list all bear the best testimony that Chinese leaders have hammered home the fact the extensive application of modern information and communication technologies symbolic of the Internet has already brought and will continue to bring sea changes to the country's society and political establishments.

Iron-clad facts also prove that the booming Internet is closely connecting the Chinese social groups, and that a modern democracy is now being developed on this vast land.

What is particularly noteworthy is the decision made by the top Party leadership to strengthen the anti-corruption drive in the relief work and post-quake reconstruction to push forward the building of clean governance of the whole Party under the direct support of the masses of ordinary people.

The reform of China's political system is now in its best period, during which the reasonable and healthy elements of its traditional political system are fully playing an active role, and the new political elements are being cultivated and growing.

The timely and resolute reaction to the deadly quake from the Chinese top leadership and its extensive mobilization of manpower and social resources for relief work impressed the whole world. Even the Western media that have long held a skeptical and even negative attitude toward China's current political system had to extend positive opinions on the country's political system for its overwhelming advantages and high efficiency in the fight against this devastating natural calamity.

At a meeting held by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on June 5, the "one-to-one" aid formula for reconstruction of quake-hit regions was confirmed. The meeting called upon the country to play its political advantage as a socialist country and mobilize nationwide resources to step up post-quake reconstruction. Under the "one-to-one" aid principle, that means a province is to help a hardest quake-hit region, the meeting urged an effective aid mechanism should be set up as soon as possible and social resource should be reasonably allocated to step up the reconstruction process.

That the entire nation is united as one and the positive changes the country is undergoing have made the construction of a modern democracy with Chinese characteristics not only a will on the paper but also a reality that is coming into being.

Such encouraging changes also prompt residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to have a rising national identity consciousness. It will inevitably produce positive influence to the general election of Hong Kong under the guidance of the Basic Law and the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

The author is a senior analyst with the China Everbright Group