How does China's democracy work?
According to the Democracy Perceptions Index, Chinese citizens are more likely than British or US citizens to say both that democracy is important and that their country is democratic. A Harvard Kennedy School survey found government approval ratings in China of 94%. How do we make sense of these figures?
In this clip from an interview with @thebridgetoChina, Carlos Martinez argues China's consultative model – built around the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, operating at every level from village to national government – produces a genuinely substantive democracy, one that represents the interests of the people rather than the interests of capital. The evidence is in the outcomes: historic poverty alleviation, world-leading progress on renewable energy and pollution control, and a COVID-19 response that mobilised the resources of the entire country.
Carlos also explains China's "Two Sessions" – the annual meetings of the NPC and CPPCC that translate debates from across Chinese society into concrete national policy. This year's sessions are debating and adopting the 15th Five-Year Plan, setting the country's direction on technology, science, ecological development and economic growth – in a world made increasingly unpredictable by the Trump administration's approach to international relations. Democracy, it turns out, might look quite different from what we've been told.
Full interview here: • Why Does the West Fear China?