BEIJING (Xinhua/Internews): Experts at an international forum on democracy have said that Chinese democracy and governance, characterized by being responsive to people’s voices, have proved effective.
On Wednesday, more than 200 guests from home and abroad, including representatives of government departments and international organizations, experts and scholars, discussed topics related to democracy and global governance, both in person or virtually, during the third “International Forum on Democracy: The Shared Human Values” in Beijing.
Stephen Perry, president emeritus of Britain’s 48 Group Club, said he believed that China is on its way to a good form of democracy, saying China has a sound system of hearing the people and responding to them.
“Chinese leaders do an enormous amount of research into what the people think, feel, experience and want,” he said.The democracy of hearing the people is probably simpler in China than it is in the West, he added.
Wang Shaoguang, professor emeritus with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, pointed out how Chinese officials go into the masses to learn about their requests.”In China, officials are required to go to the frontlines, visit the villages and local communities. They share their tables and work, and even live with the people,” he said.
Wang summarized this method as sticking to the line of the masses, describing it as a huge advantage of Chinese democracy.The attendees agreed that in China, the people’s expectations are heard by the authorities, but more importantly, they can be realized.
“The greatest advantage of Chinese democracy and governance is that there are no empty promises,” said Alexander Lomanov, head of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“What is written in government work plans will be implemented,” he said, adding that every work plan is adjusted to the needs of the Chinese people.
According to a report published during the forum, nearly 10,000 people surveyed in 2023 in 23 countries, covering Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Oceania, agree strongly with the rich connotations of China’s whole-process people’s democracy and consider it a benchmark for human political systems.
Of those interviewed, 91.4 percent believe that whole-process people’s democracy enables the people to voice their needs freely, and that democracy should focus on solving people’s practical problems.Forum attendees also underlined the importance of respecting the diversity of democratic practice and advocated the spirit of mutual learning.
“Chinese democracy and governance do work, and there’s a lot about it we can learn from. We should be studying China, not trying to lecture China,” Perry said.
The event was hosted by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council Information Office and co-organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Media Group and China International Communications Group.
Meanwhile, China’s forex market saw a stable performance in February, with a more steady flow of cross-border capital, demonstrating the enduring allure and promising prospect of yuan-denominated assets, according to analysts.
The country’s commercial banks saw a net forex settlement surplus of 12 billion yuan (about 1.69 billion U.S. dollars) in February, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed.In yuan terms, forex purchases by banks stood at about 1.09 trillion yuan, while sales reached about 1.08 trillion yuan.
The net inflow of cross-border funds under the goods trade and the securities investment categories both remained at a high level in February, said Wang Chunying, deputy director and spokesperson of the administration.
The daily net inflow of cross-border funds under the goods trade category, deducting the Spring Festival holiday effect and other factors, rose by 3 percent year on year during the period, which continues to underpin the fundamentals of cross-border capital flow, Wang said.
The net increase in foreign holdings of domestic bonds stood at a higher level at 11.1 billion U.S. dollars in February, and foreign investment in domestic stocks turned to net gain during the period, Wang added.
Commenting on the expansion of foreign holdings of domestic bonds, Zhao Qingming, a specialist in international finance, said the data reflects that international financial institutions are bullish on the returns of yuan-denominated bonds in the future.
