A Chinese Solution

Multiparty cooperation and political consultation provide a new way to view democracy

- Jiang Wei

On March 4, President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attended a joint panel discussion with political advisors from the China Democratic League and the China Zhi Gong Party, those without party affiliation and those from the sector of returned overseas Chinese, who gathered in Beijing to attend the First Session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body.

During the discussion, Xi stressed that China must consolidate and improve the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, and tap the unique potential of multiparty cooperation to provide practical advice and pool wisdom for advancing socialist democracy.

Distinctive features

After nearly 69 years of progress and reform since its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China has developed a political party system unlike any other. China’s system features multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, in which the CPC is the ruling party and eight non-communist political parties participate in the deliberation and administration of state affairs. This political party system is distinctly Chinese in its characteristics.

In establishing the system, China has avoided using other countries’ political party systems as a criterion to restrict its own development, instead designing one specifically suited to its own national conditions.