Xinhua News Agency National High-end Think Tank: Decoding the "Whole Process of People's Democracy" in Four Dimensions

Beijing, 7 Dec (Xinhua) -- The State High-end Think Tank of the Xinhua News Agency issued a report on 7 December saying that the "people's democracy in the whole process" practiced in China is a new form of implementing people's sovereignty, which is embodied in all links of democratic election, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision. "People, Things, Policies, and Rights" provides four dimensions for understanding the whole process of people's democracy.

The report, which was released to the world, is entitled "The Pursuit and Exploration of Common Values for All Mankind: The Chinese Practice of Democracy, Freedom, and Human Rights." The report said that China's "people's democracy in the whole process" means that the people are widely involved in and managing the affairs of the state and society, which is vividly reflected in four key issues:

- "How are people chosen?" The report said that China's selection mechanism is based on virtue, ability and performance as the standard, and combines selection at all levels with democratic elections. The emergence of China's leaders must go through one political step at a time, selected at each level, outstanding in rank, outstanding in political achievements, and rich in experience, so that it is possible to effectively govern the world's most populous country.

The report points out that the vast majority of China's grassroots public opinion representatives are directly elected. There are more than 2.62 million deputies to the people's congresses at the five levels from the state to townships and townships, of which 94% of the county and township people's congress deputies are directly elected by one voter and one vote.

- "How was the matter discussed?" The report points out that China's "whole process people's democracy" emphasizes citizens' participation in the whole process of public policy decision-making, that is, participation before, during and after decision-making, and strives to achieve full coverage of the people's right to know, the right to participate, the right to express, and the right to supervise, and to find the best solution in brainstorming.

Taking the "Democracy Earnest Talk Meeting" in Wenling, Zhejiang, the "Gubei Citizens' Council" in Changning District, Shanghai, the "Night Talk in the House" in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, and the "'2+4' End Governance" in Changle Community in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, the report points out that various forms of grassroots deliberative democracy have been created in various parts of China, which play an important role in realizing good governance.

- "How is the policy decided?" The report believes that China's democratic governance advocates the scientific nature of decision-making. The central government respects the spirit of initiative at the grass-roots level and elevates the good experience created at the grass-roots level to the national reform decision-making; at the same time, before the introduction of major national reform measures, it is handed over to some regions to "try first", and the experience obtained is then promoted to the whole country.

For example, the report says that China, with a population of more than 1.4 billion, has made significant progress in health care reform in recent years, and an important reason is the promotion of local pioneering experiences, the "Sanming Model". Sanming City, Fujian Province, has implemented the linkage reform of medicine, medical insurance and medical treatment, effectively solving the problem of "difficult and expensive medical treatment". Based on Sanming's good practice, China set up the National Medical Insurance Bureau to promote collective procurement to achieve a large price reduction in drugs and consumables, and the people clapped their hands and said that they were fast.

- "How is the right used?" The report said that China has set up powers, standardized powers, restricted powers, and supervised powers according to law through a series of institutional arrangements, such as inner-party supervision, people's congress supervision, democratic supervision, administrative supervision, judicial supervision, mass supervision, and public opinion supervision, and has put public power into the cage of the system.

The report pointed out that since 2012, the CCP has set off an unprecedented anti-corruption storm, fighting "tigers" without forbidden areas, shooting "flies" without being soft, hunting "foxes" without stopping, and promoting the system as a whole that does not dare to be corrupt, cannot be corrupt, and does not want to be corrupt, effectively curbing the momentum of the spread of corruption and ensuring that the power given by the people is used to seek happiness for the people. (End)