Third Republic

In a declaration, the CDP leaders said, “We shall pursue the spirit and tradition of the leaders of the Revolution of 1911 and their creation of Asia’s First Republic… we solemnly declare our aspiration to build a Third Republic based on the principles of freedom, equality, human rights and constitutional democracy.”

Signaling the rising tension between Beijing and the Democrat controlled US congress, the speaker of the house of representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was there to bless the CDP’s first party congress.

But more consequential than the CDP convention is the fascinating debate within the CCP itself on the relationship between Chinese socialism and liberal democracy.

Social Democracy

Earlier this year, Xie Tao, a former vice president of the Renmin University published a piece that challenged the party orthodoxy on democracy. Xie described 20th-century history as a contest between capitalism, communism and Swedish-style democratic socialism, with its dual stress on social equality and political rights. He argued that the democratic socialism had won, outlasting communism and transforming capitalism, and urged China to rejuvenate itself through democratic reform.

“Political reform cannot be delayed any longer. Seeking to retain the Maoist political system while pursuing only economic reform will lead to a bureaucratic capitalism of the kind presided over by Chiang Kai-shek and the nationalists as they headed towards defeat. Only democratic constitutionalism can provide fundamental solutions to the party’s corruption problem. Only democratic socialism can save China”, Xie insisted.

As important as Xie’s views was the fact that they were published in a party-sanctioned journal. Within a few days, Premier Wen Jiabao responded to the call for European style social democracy with a front page article in the CCP’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily. While rejecting the argument that China should adopt European-style democracy, Wen sounded conciliatory by suggesting that one day, “socialism with Chinese characteristics” would include China’s own version of democracy.

Xie’s ideas are not a voice in the CCP wilderness. Many from the older generation of the party are making the case that without constitutional democracy and a genuine political empowerment of ordinary people, China would drift into a deeper political crisis.

“Three Consciousness”

As he wards of calls for radical reform from one end of the party spectrum and criticism from traditional leftists for abandoning old benchmarks, President Hu Jintao has focused on improving the ideological education of the party cadre and combating endemic corruption. Hu’s current emphasis is on raising the “three consciousness” of the party cadre. These are “ consciousness of living in dangerous times, their sense of duty as public servants, and the virtue of thriftiness.” It is by no means clear that Hu’s hopes on improving the individual morality of 71 million members of the CCP are a substitute for real political reform.

Road to Everest

While New Delhi has woken up to Beijing’s modernisation of road networks in Tibet, we have a long way to in matching the imagination of the Chinese establishment.

This week Beijing announced plans to convert a 100 km path from the foot of Mount Everest to a base camp at a little over 17,000 feet into a paved highway. Mt Everest, which straddles the border between Nepal and Tibet, rises up to 29,035 feet.

This new highway, to be ready in about four months, would be part of the torch relay for the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing. This is said to be longest relay in the history of Olympics and covers 136,000 km route across five continents, and scale a part of the Mount Everest. Beijing expects the new road to be a big tourist draw.

The writer is a professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore