The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

45. Ren Jiantao (任剑涛), a professor at the prestigious Zhongshan
University of Guangzhou (广州, 中山大学), points out that
most of the CCP’s political changes are “crisis driven” and “piecemeal.”
There is no grand design for a political modernization in
China. It is unfortunate. “多人发言: 中国政治体制改革三十年反思
与前瞻” (“Group Discussion: Reflection on China’s 30-year Political
Reform and Its Future”), 领导者 (Leaders), June 2009.
46. Japan has a parliamentary political system. The majority
party gets to form the cabinet. For most of the time in the post-
World War II era, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been
the majority party in the Japanese Diet (parliament) and ruled Japan
accordingly. The difference between the Japanese LDP and
the Chinese CCP is the two parties’ embracement (in the case of
Japan) and dismissal (on the Chinese part) of the democratic values
and operating mechanisms. There is a large literature on the
Japanese “one-party-rule democracy.” There are also publications
in Chinese about Japan being a possible model for China. This
analysis contends that the CCP has a good chance to follow the
footsteps of Japan to evolve into a Japanese-like political system.
47. CCP, Resolution on Enhancing the Party’s Ruling Capacity
(中共中央关于加强党的执政能力建设的决定), September 19,
2004.
48. At the joint press conference with President Obama in
Washington, DC, in January 2011, Chinese President Hu Jintao
carefully and reluctantly admitted that the Chinese government
agreed with the universal values.
49. Yu Keping (俞可平), “让民主造福中国” (“Let Democracy
Bring Fortune to China”), November 10, 2008.
50. Wang Guanqun, “Chinese Premier Calls for Further Reform,
Ideological Emancipation,” Xinhua News Agency, August 21,
2010, available at www.gov.cn/english/2010-08/21/content_1685351.
htm; Chen Hong, “President Hails Shenzhen SEZ a World ‘Miracle’,”
China Daily, September 7, 2010. It is quite an irony that Liu
Xiaobo (刘晓波), a political dissident and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize
winner, was advocating the same changes but was charged with
plotting to subvert the Chinese government and is serving an 11-
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