The U.S. will be holding mid-term elections on November 3, to elect the people’s representatives to enact laws, provide oversight and represent the people. In sharp contrast, China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) announced that it formally expelled 33 senior political and military officials, in line with President Xi Jinping’s anticorruption purges, as Mr. Xi prepares for a fourth term as President of China next year. This will give Mr. Xi twenty years unquestionable power.
The U.S. and China obviously have different forms of governance. Senior Chinese officials often say that their form of governance is far superior to the U.S. political system. They argue that others, especially in the Global South, will see that China’s authoritarian form of governance is preferable to the constitutional democracy in the U.S.
China’s political system is an authoritarian form of governance, endowing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its paramount leader, the General Secretary, with the power to make the laws, control individual rights and suppress the opposition, in return for the promise of stability and economic growth.
But it is ironic to hear these officials and academics criticize the U.S., comparing a democracy with an authoritarian political system.
Many in China realize the important role the U.S. has played to make China the second largest economy in the world. And it was Deng Xiaoping who realized that working with the U.S. would be key to making China great again.
Mr. Deng, after being purged twice, rose to power in China in December 1978, followed by formal diplomatic relations with the U.S. in January 1979. Mr. Deng visited the U.S. in late January 1979, setting the stage for greater cooperation with the U.S.
Mr. Deng inherited an impoverished China, having lost millions of Chinese due to Chairman Mao Zedong’s failed policies of land reform and the Great Leap Forward.
Mr. Deng immediately established a policy of “reform and opening up”, looking to the U.S. for economic assistance. And the U.S was there for China, permitting dual-use technology transfers that created the conditions for foreign direct investment in China; investment that fueled China’s export industries, key to China’s growth. The U.S. also provided China with market access for Chinese goods, while training millions of Chinese in modern technology and know-how. It was the U.S. that provided unprecedented help and support to China’s success story of lifting 20% of the global population out of poverty and assisting with its rapid modernization.
Although Mr. Deng moved China to a market economy, relying heavily on the U.S., he was opposed to a western tripartite separation of powers. He advocated for CCP control of the government, with collective leadership and term limits for the General Secretary of the CCP. – two terms, each 5 years.
But there were other senior Chinese leaders who advocated for greater reform in China. Former General Secretary of the CCP, Zhao Ziyang, wrote in his banned book, Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Zhao Ziyang, that he was in favor of a parliamentary democracy for China, with the rule of law, not rule by men. Mr. Zhao was purged from the CCP in 1989, after sympathizing with the student protests at Tiananmen. Mr. Zhao wrote in his book that his predecessor, Hu Yaobang, was also replaced by Mr. Deng for indulging in bourgeois liberalization and advocating democracy.
And Former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who served from 2003-2013, often spoke of the need for political reform, and in 2012 said that “democracy is inevitable” in China, to keep pace with China’s rapid economic growth.
Indeed, Mr. Deng, probably remembering the disastrous reign of one-man-rule of Mao Zedong, was a strong advocate of collective leadership and term limits for China’s paramount leader, the president of China and the general secretary of the CCP. Positions Mr. Xi has had since 2012.
Expectations are that Mr. Xi will seek and secure an unprecedented fourth five-year term as general secretary of the CCP at the 21st Party Congress scheduled for the second half of 2027.
Mr. Xi’s anti-corruption campaign that started in 2012 has purged over 500 ministerial-level officials and over 2 million government officials for so-called corruption. No doubt, loyalty also played a role in many of these cases. Many of the purged senior officials were from the People’s Liberation Army, Navy and Air Force. Generals Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and member of the CCP’s Politburo and Liu Zhenli, Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, both were expelled from the CCP and the military. General Zhang’s purge from the Party and PLA was especially surprising, given his long history of working closely with Mr. Xi.
It would be fair to ask how many of the 500 ministerial-level officials were purged because they were viewed by Mr. Xi as disloyal. How many shared Mr. Deng’s dictum of collective leadership and term limits, in opposition to Mr. Xi seeking a fourth five-year term as President and Party General Secretary? How many of the PLA generals and admirals expressed views on Taiwan that were not pleasing to Mr. Xi?
Indeed, how many people in China wish that they could vote to elect representatives who would represent the people and articulate their concerns?
The constitutional democracy in the U.S. is occasionally laud, and expensive to manage, especially during periods of voting for representatives, but it is a transparent and fair system. It is a system of governance that empowers the people.
The U.S. form of governance – a constitutional democracy – can easily compete with China’s authoritarian form of governance.
The author is a former associate director of national intelligence. All statements of fact, opinion or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the U.S. government.
This article was initially published in The Washington Times and is republished here with permission.
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