Foreign experts say China's people-centered whole-process democracy of great significance

BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Foreign experts have applauded the launching of a report titled "Pursuing Common Values of Humanity -- China's Approach to Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights," saying that China's people-centered whole-process democracy is of great significance to the world.

The report, conducted by New China Research (NCR), the think tank of China's Xinhua News Agency, was officially released Tuesday in Beijing and Geneva via video link, together with a related documentary.

The report illustrates the institutional strength, cultural background, intrinsic law and world significance of China's practice of "the running of the country by the people" from an academic point of view.

Speaking at the launch event of the report, Stuart Harold Comberbach, permanent representative of Zimbabwe to the United Nations (UN) Office at Geneva, said that it conveys "a comprehensive and thought-provoking analysis of the success of China's people-centered approach to governance, to development, to democracy and of course to human rights."

The report details China's massive investment over decades in nationwide education, health care, and land reform, social progress, coupled with a concomitant economic empowerment of its people, providing hundreds of millions of its citizens with the tools to free themselves from poverty, he noted.

Although Western media and politicians tend to label China as being "undemocratic," in reality, China's system of whole-process democracy is far more "meaningfully democratic" than the so-called liberal democracy in the West, said Carlos Martinez, a British author and political commentator.

The voices of the Chinese people are "more heard and listened to" in the formulation of national policy and in the making of major decisions, said Comberbach.

In stark contrast with the West's imperious approach, Comberbach said China's approach is based on "explaining how it has managed its own transformation," instead of "dictating how others should manage theirs."

In the eyes of Herman Tiu Laurel, founder of Philippine BRICS Strategic Studies, the people's democracy in China has successfully protected its 1.4-billion population amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while the U.S. example will always be cited as a failure of its governance.

Concerning the influence of people's democracy in China, Volker Tschapke, honorary president of Germany's Prussian Society, took the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative as an example.

Tschapke said the initiative connects not only markets but also different cultures and systems, benefiting both developing countries and developed ones, and also improving the condition of human rights.