China and perpetual Communism?

“China cannot copy the political system or development model of other countries because it would not fit us and it might even lead to catastrophic consequences.” Xi Jinping, Chinese President, has said this recently in Europe. Though considering China's history and evolution, he is right to an extent, still there is a lot to be debated about his view trying to justify the current system and to perpetuate it. 

Source

My analysis is as below:

China was ruled by various emperors till 1912. Then under Sun Yat Sen's leadership, Republic of China was set up based on principles of democracy and nationalism. This also failed as after his death, Kuomintang Party split and efficient leadership lacked. Also, till World War II parts of China were continuously invaded by imperial powers. In the vast country of China, people were starving and backward. So, communism could make strong inroads into China.


Under leadership of Mao Zedong, in 1949 People's Republic of China, or Communist China was set up with sole Communist party as the ruling party which strove for economic growth. Now, China is a world power under single party leadership.

With this background, Xi Jinping, Chinese President has claimed that Western style democracy cannot be copied in China. China has tried multi-party democracy from 1912 to 1949 which failed. Hence the unique overall model of strong single party pushing Chinese prosperity has rather worked well in a large diverse country like China.

The above argument, though true to an extent is still widely debatable. Other small parties are all submissive to Communist Party, though Chinese Constitution provides for them. Also, human rights abuses by China, curtailing of freedom of speech and expression are well-known. Corruption and crony capitalism rule in China with low checks and balances, going against the very ethos of socialism. Even questions on independence of its judiciary are raised.

Therefore, China remains a single-party system which is increasingly pushing itself to strength at the cost of muzzling civil society. In my view, this does not unlock its true growth potential. Democracy should rather be truly given a chance in China, which remains a dream for most of its citizens in a globalised world. 

**This is my post for A to Z Challenge 2014 with the letter 'C' and I thought of a burning topic of the world:: China and perpetual Communism?