The New Century Declaration by the China Democracy Party

The New Century Declaration
By The China Democracy Party

DC Office of Free China Movement
Tel: (703) 864-9304
Fax: (703) 481-6589
Email: dcofficefcm@freechina.net

The New Century Declaration
China Democracy Party
2000 01 01

For inquiries please contact:
Mr. He Depu
China Democracy Party
Beijing Headquarters
Phone:86-10-64880305

Edited and translated by Michael To
Michael To is a political commentator on China
He can be reached at: michaelto@hotmail.com
Additional editing by diva

Table of Contents

Foreword

A Democratic Political System

A Free Market Economy

Pluralism of Ideologies

Our Position on Major Issues

1) on human rights

2) on stability

3) on the issue of June 4th Massacre

4) on corruption and social justice

5) on peasant issues

6) on free trade unions

7) on rule of law

8) on education

9) on ecology

10) on military

11) on minorities

12) on one country with two systems and the issue of Taiwan

13) on foreign policies

14) on transition to democracy

Closing Remarks

Foreword
On the eve of a new century and a new millennia, China Democracy Party would like to take this opportunity to review the century just past and to put into perspective our mission. This review shall enable us to better delineate our position on major issues facing China. In the new century, we intend to move forward with a clear direction and with a renewed resolve.
Ever since written history, world civilizations largely have fallen into two categories. One category, that began some five thousand years ago, is the agrarian and herding civilization. It is authoritarian in nature. It uses either a natural or command economy. It usually has a single ruling ideology. In these civilizations, religion and state are usually inseparable. The other category of civilization is the one started back in ancient Greece. It disappeared for a long period of time and returned some five hundred years ago. This civilization is based on trading and industry. It has a democratic political system, and a market or free economy. It allows a multitude of ideologies to coexist. Its state and religion are separate.
During the period of agrarian and herding civilization, China had long led the world. It had created the most brilliant culture and the most advanced institutions of its kind. The trading and industrial civilization came after the agrarian and herding civilization and it was built on the base of the latter. Since the Renaissance, the trading and industrial civilization has been expanding at an alarming rate. It soon conquered the world and overtook most parts of the agrarian and herding areas. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Ching, these two civilizations came into contact. They came into full conflict after the outbreak of the first Opium War of 1839 in China.
China, the old civilization, lost every war she was forced to enter. Faced with the West's mechanized gun boats, China's intellectual class reacted. Their solution was to adopt western technology only, and yet to refuse changes to China's main political and philosophical principles. The defeat of China in the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-1895 proved that the strategy, of adopting Western technology only was a failure. The intellectual class then demanded further changes. This time the list of changes included China's political institutions from antiquity. This is known as the Hundred Day Reform of 1898. Its failure ushered in a new group who demanded nothing less than a revolution. The revolutionaries had their first success in the 1911 Revolution. In 1912, China became the first republic in Asia. This marked the first time China joined the modern world of trade and industry.
The new republic soon met with numerous set-backs. It nevertheless inched forward with the help of the May-Fourth Movement of 1919 and the Northern Expedition of 1926. At around 1930, the new republic had achieved some early success and prosperity. However, the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 interrupted China's transformation towards becoming a modern state.
The rise of communism worldwide was a response to the ills of early industrialization. The Chinese Communism, however, was a different phenomenon. In truth, it was a contending force to be the next ruler of China, as well as a dissenting force in the direction of China's transformation. The Chinese Communists called for the rise of peasants to take land from landlords. They called for the rise of workers to seize assets from the capitalists. And they called for the rise of citizens and the intellectual class to demand a so- called "new" democracy (meaning the party had sole authority to interpret and to execute the will of the people). They finally seized power in 1949 from the hands of the Kuomintang Government who was at the time struggling towards a transition to constitutional democracy.
After coming to power in 1949, the communists established a "joint government" based on the principle of "new" democracy. It gave brief hope to China's modernization. Soon it unleashed its programs of agricultural collectivization, and of nationalization of private industries. Many purges followed. The best known among them were the anti-rightist purge of 1957 and the Cultural Revolution of 1966. This series of programs and purges were aimed at giving the party a total monopoly on power and resources. Any base for a civil society was, by then, totally removed. Thus in China, socialism and totalitarianism united into one. In the end the Chinese people paid a hefty price. In return, they were further away from a modern democracy.
The Chinese people are now waking up. At last, the devastation of the Cultural Revolution has taught the Chinese people to push back. Beginning in 1974, the big character poster, titled "Democracy and the System of Law" sounded the first dissent from the masses. It was followed by the April Fourth Movement of 1976. These dissents forced Deng Xiaoping to start the program of reform and the Open Door policy of the past 20 years. His early reform programs for China also helped trigger an avalanche of reforms in socialist states elsewhere. After the collapse of the world's socialist camp in 1989, China began to dismantle its planned economy, still, ever so reluctantly. It began to adopt the market economy and to establish ties with the industrial world. Finally these reforms triggered a fast economic growth in China in the past 10 years.
Overall, China has made progress nationally and economically over the past 100 years. Yet, in the same period, it has made no progress in terms of democratization. In this regard, it actually regressed in the last 50 years. Without democracy, China will continue to be an outsider in the modern world. With an authoritarian state, and a single ruling ideology, China will continue to lag behind overall human development.
During the latter part of the 20th century, the developed countries of the world have entered the post-industrial era. A new civilization, based on information and knowledge more advanced than those from the industrial age, is rising. Whither China?, is the concern of all of us who care for the future of China.

A Democratic Political System
In our view, the urgent need to democratize and the key social changes that China must go through in the new century, can take one of two approaches. One is self-initiated, rational, peaceful and without bloodshed. In this approach, the Chinese Communists will speed up political reform. It will fundamentally change its policies and political beliefs and transform itself into a social democrat, a labor or a liberal party. It will abandon one-party rule and allow for the existence of opposition parties. It will move steadfastly towards free elections, including the election of the president.
On the ideology front, it will accept freedom of speech and freedom of press. It will start, at the earliest possible time, a discussion with the people about the need for a new constitution. Over time a power structure that is distributive and counter-balanced and a constitutional democracy will be put in place. This way China will become part of the modern world. Taiwan is a prime example of this approach. It has shown China and the rest of the world of what can happen to a Chinese society in the process of democratization.
The contrary approach is one that is reactionary, irrational, violent and bloody. In this approach the Chinese Communists will resist real political changes. In its place, piecemeal remedies will be applied to an unending series of crisis. Furthermore, they will continue to uphold the Four Cardinal Rules which insist on one-party rule. They will continue to crack down on oppositions and dissidents and to resist free elections. They will continue to control speech and press. As a result major social issues will not be resolved in a timely manner, leaving situations to fester until eruption. Large-scale street violence and bloodshed will become unavoidable in this approach.
History is littered with examples of bloodshed caused by late reforms. Unfortunately, we see no signs whatsoever from the current regime that it is moving towards a self-initiated, rational, and peaceful transformation. All signs indicate the communists are begrudgingly moving along an irrational path and crisis is deepening daily.
China Democracy Party's mission is to bring about China's transformation into a democracy and a modern society. In China's history, we have never had a democracy before. This makes our task doubly difficult. At the beginning of this century, Dr. Sun Yat-sen said it is more important to know what to do than how to do it. This comment was made during a time when the world had few democracies. Today two-thirds of all countries in the world are democracies. We now know what to do. It is now more important to know how to do it. Mature democracies around the world have by now accumulated a wealth of knowledge. We have the guidance not only from British and French philosophers and the American forefathers, but also from our own painful experience under a totalitarian state in the past 50 years. On the whole there is not much dispute on the main direction we are taking. Whether to choose a presidential or a premier-based system and the details of implementation can be debated and worked out in the years to come. It is time to take actions. We have talked about democracy for too long. Let's "just do it" as a western exhortation would prescribe.

A Free Market Economy
A democracy depends on its citizens' sense of rights. Citizens' sense of rights comes from their willingness to defend their properties. Only in a free market economy, can private property fully take root.
By 1989, after 10 years of reform and the June 4th massacre, the communists led by Deng Xiaoping finally accepted that a market economy will do a better job than a planned economy. In the 4th plenary session of the 15th Chinese Communist Congress, they decided to free up the light industries. However they continue to hold onto the giant state (party controlled) enterprises. This allows them to maintain the situation wherein their political power continues to overlord the economy.
Marxism holds that the conflict between privately owned production and large scale state-owned production will inevitably led to the triumph of socialism over capitalism. Yet the current popularity of international companies and their mergers and acquisitions have shown capitalism is sound and well. This shows the said conflict between private and state-owned production can be resolved and resolved well. Similarly, the situation described in length by Marx, in "Das Kapital", of the deprivation of women and child laborers in the early phase of capitalism has long been condemned by the world. After the June 4th Massacre and the fall of the Berlin Wall, Stalin and Mao's state-capitalism has been proven to be a complete failure. In truth, state ownership is really party ownership with the working class having no say whatsoever.
If history would have us view state ownership as the antithesis to private ownership, than the logical synthesis would point to public ownership. Public ownership can take two forms. One form is a private enterprise owned by a multitude of share holders. The other form is a fake: pretending that state ownership is equivalent to public ownership. They are fakes even with their current, much delayed, measures of rent-seeking and share ownership. For without a clear settlement of ownership any form of rent-seeking, or contracting out or selling shares will not protect itself from the meddling of the state or the party. Chronic low efficiency will still be with them. Public ownership via a state will not be able to survive in a market economy for long. Instead, the worldwide accepted share ownership by individuals or by legal entities will turn out to be the true form of public ownership.
There is another strong reason to oppose state ownership. This is because, hiding behind the state, is a party dictatorship. Its unfair and unjust nature not only leads to waste and low efficiency, but also to a concentration of power. Clearly, on the concrete slab of state ownership one can only build a pyramid of dictatorship. It is never fertile soil for the bloom and fruition of a democracy. On the other hand, only private ownership can lead to real ownership by the public. Real ownership by the public liberates the production power of the masses. It will stimulate people's creativity and productivity.
In the last 20 years of this century, we have seen the Chinese Communists begrudgingly and stealthily inch towards privatization. Based on the same population and the same land mass, the limited privatization so far has already enabled the Chinese economy to take off. We have to ask, with all these results, why not boldly move forward in the direction of private ownership? For China, we believe privatization of small to mid-size enterprises and privatization or share ownership of big enterprises are better forms of ownership. This also points the direction that the current reform of China's state enterprises should take.
We believe only when individuals are allowed to choose their own paths, when their rights are protected and when a private ownership environment exists that encourages innovation, then China's economy will develop healthily and China's democracy will be on a path of no return.
In the few remaining days of this century, China and the United States finally signed an agreement allowing China to enter the WTO. The China Democracy Party applauds this move. This development represents an important milestone in the hundred years-long quest by China to become part of the mainstream of the modern world.

Pluralism of Ideologies
Civilization is built on the coupling and mutual support between its economic, political and ideological paradigms. Transformation of a civilization is therefore a linked and steady movement of all three. If any one of the three has a prolonged advancement or retardation the other two will be affected and the direction of that civilization will also change. China, if it continues to hold onto a single ruling ideology, will not become a modern civilization. The cultural and intellectual world of China will continue to stagnate. Only a plurality of ideologies will provide China the broadest intellectual platform, the widest space and the most tolerant value yardsticks. Insisting on a single ideology will only hold us back and wither our growth.
It is apparent to all that China's cultural giants of the recent past have had their creativity curtailed since 1949. They have become ordinary and subservient. Many of them even became debased, petty and have squandered their past reputation. At the end of the Cultural Revolution, people like Guo Mo-Ruo and Mao Dun called for China's own literary star of the grandest class. In addition, China's Academy of Social Science and state-appointed philosophers have called many times for the emergency of grand scholars and China's own philosophical school. In China's scientific and cultural circles there are people, so then how do we explain the success of overseas Chinese and their claims to Nobel prizes?
In addition to the backward research environment of China, the absolute rule of state ideology and the water-tight control on belief and speech have all contributed to the problem. China is now facing a world of accelerated scientific and technological advancement. The Chinese communist leaders want to promote science and technology. They do not understand that science and technology need the support of a humanistic environment. Without a relaxation of control over ideology, the humanistic environment will be lifeless. Without a lively humanistic environment, technology innovation will be limited. The only eight official operas during the Cultural Revolution aside, today we still have the Central Propaganda Department cracking down on the slightest deviation in newspapers, magazines and publishing houses. Cultural and audio visual material off the official limit will be banned instantly. How can we expect a flourishing and creative population under such a barbaric and dictatorial cultural policy? Without a wholesale change to the political and humanistic environment, any call for innovation or catching up with the West is a dream and an uphill battle.

Our Position on Major Issues:

1) on human rights:
It used to be very dangerous to bring up the issue of human rights to the Chinese Communists. It is less dangerous now, but still a very tiresome endeavor. Human rights is built on the base of humanism. The material base of human rights is on the inviolability of private properties. The Communist Party came to power by its outright rejection of humanism and the stripping of all private properties. The Chinese Communiss always use class struggle and class dictatorship to suppress humanism. In 1983, during the Anti-Spiritual Contamination Movement, the highest organ in the party in charge of ideology unleashed a barrage against diversity, humanism and humanitarianism. Their insistence on class conflict effectively shuts out all recognition of universal human values.
The Chinese Communists' first mention of human rights came after the June 4th massacre of 1989. After 1989, China faced internal and external condemnations and economic sanctions. Then China started reluctantly to talk in human rights terms. Yet still today, it uses survival and development as rights in defense of its lack of political rights for its citizens. This kind of rhetoric, in essence, is an admission that China is a primitive state. For even the most primitive and most barbaric state will not oppose the survival of its subjects. In today's world no advanced state will shirk away from its responsibility to protect the political rights of its citizens.
The fundamental reason of forming a government is for the welfare of its people. 200 years ago, the American forefathers had declared that the right to life, freedom and the right to pursue happiness are the reason people form governments among themselves. People have the right to change or even remove a government should it harm the pursuit of these rights. Chinese people should regain their sense of being the true master of their country.
In the past couple of years, the Chinese government signed the two international covenants on human rights. We call for the early ratification of these two covenants by the People's Congress. The China Democracy Party fully intends to play its role as an opposition party. It will make sure the party in power carries out its obligations as required by the two covenants and that China will shoulder its responsibility as expected by the international community.

2) on stability
All Chinese want a stable environment. People are sick and tired of government orchestrated political movements and the communists' perpetual revolution. There are two kinds of stability. One is achieved under an intense political terror. It is a static and surface kind of stability. It hides many social unrests beneath the surface. The unresolved social issues continue to build looking for the next incident to erupt. Stability thus achieved is only temporary and it will lead to future disturbances. True stability is dynamic. It achieves progression in the midst of debate, friction, conflict and competition. When social crisis get resolved via competition, negotiation and compromises, a society has arrived at a true stability with vitality.
We oppose the use of stability as an excuse by the current government to crack down on opposition and dissidents and to further delay reforms. Insisting on a rigid and conservative approach to the current crisis of China will only acerbate problems and make situations more chaotic. Modern chaos theory as well as history have shown us that old systems in their final stages degenerate towards chaos. Out of the chaos, a new and higher order will emerge.

3) on the issue of June 4th Massacre
Contrary to popular belief, the June 4th Massacre of 1989 was not an isolated event started by naive students. From the perspective of modern Chinese history, it forms part of the hundred years-old opposition to dictatorship and corruption. It demands social justice and democracy. From the perspective of the last 50 years, it is a continuation from the April 5th movement, the Democracy Wall, and the student movements of 1986 and 1987. Although it was triggered by the funeral of party leader Hu Yaobang, the crisis had been building since the 1986 and 1987 crack downs on student movements. Hu was forced out and many well known party intellectuals were expelled as a result of the 1987 crack down. What followed was rampant inflation and a financial crisis. Reform came to a halt. The arch-conservatives in the party re-asserted their control. The senile leadership was at a cross-roads and at a loss at whether to move forward or retreat. The reform and conservative factions of the party were inching towards a major confrontation in early 1989. Under this situation, students and intellectuals had signed a number of petitions asking for human rights, democracy and the release of political prisoners. They also demanded a stop to corruption by officials and high ranking party members. Students asked the government for dialogues on these issues and to restart reform. The party once again wrongfully treated these requests as a frontal attack by a class enemy. As a result of this wrongful assessment, the party pushed itself, step by step, towards the final bloodshed on June 4th in Tiananman Square.
The Chinese people as well as the government can extract many lessons from the June 4th Massacre. The sacrifice and the heroic acts of Chinese citizens and students were far-reaching. It changed not only Chinese history but also contributed to the downfall of the communist world and an early end of the Cold War by late 1989. We have no doubt that their sacrifice and heroic acts will be recognized by history. Their tormentors will also be remembered by history as the perpetrators of shame and crime.
We call on the Chinese Communists to formally set up an impartial investigation of the massacre. It must prosecute those bearing the major responsibilities of the massacre. It must compensate the victims and their families. It must come clean in front of the Chinese people and the rest of the world.

4) on corruption and social justice
It has been a public outcry that China's anti-corruption promises are always ineffective and even outright lies. In 1999, faced with an economic down turn, the government decided to spend 54 billion to raise salaries across the board by 30%. It was further stipulated that this amount must be in the hands of people before Oct 1st, the national day. These measures are to stimulate consumption and to keep the economy moving. This seems like a good move. But when compared to the more than 100 billion squandered each year by government officials on feasting and the 117 billion in illegal funds from various departments discovered by the auditor general for the period between January and June of 1999 alone, this measure appears insignificant. Corruption at all government levels and their abuse of position, leads to further waste of public funds in the hundreds of billions each year. Many mega-projects cannot be completed. Of those completed many turn out to be sub-standard and at the verge of collapsing. This kind of loss is unaccounted for and perhaps also in the hundreds of billions each year. If these holes can be plugged it will generate more than enough funds to help the unemployed and the weaker groups of society.
For more than a decade, the Chinese people saved and contributed to "The Hope" project for children who cannot afford to go to school. A total of 1.7 billion was collected over a ten year period. This amount is but a drop in the bucket. The prosecution of just a few corruption cases can recover more than enough for the improvement of the education system.
Corruption may not be eradicated instantly under a democracy. But one thing is for sure, that under the current undemocratic situation, corruption can only grow further.

5) on peasant issues
The problems peasants face are the most acute problems of China today. From a demographic point of view, China is still an agrarian society. Although China's economy and its ideology is heading towards industrialization, its political structure and bureaucracy, particularly those at the local level, are still based on an agrarian model, or even Middle-Ages like.
In the 1990's China still had 70% of its population as peasants. They are at the bottom of China's social classes. They are the weakest, the least empowered, and the most taken advantage of group in China. Before the relaxation of the household registration system of the past 20 years, the peasant population were firmly held down to the land. Their movement outside their village had to be approved. At one time their biggest dream was merely to visit a city. During the 20 years of reform some of them were allowed into cities to work as labors, taking up the dirty and dangerous jobs city folks refuse to do. They are the poorest group and without their own political representation.
Most of the 200 million illiterates of China are peasants living in rural areas. They are a simple, kind hearted and docile people. As a result they are the easiest to rule. They were the group who bore the lion's share of the cost of China's industrialization. They scarified the most and yet when tens of millions of them died of hunger in 1964, they still didn't rebel. For many years they remained the last group loyal to the communists. However, in recent years they have come to the end of their patience. The continued fleecing of their rightful income via a myriad of excuses and the breakdown of the justice system have forced many of them to take up open revolt. These peasant revolts appear to be widespread and their scale is increasing.
The most urgent task at hand is to change the de-facto second class citizen status for the peasants. Only after the peasant population becomes unshackled can changes be brought forth to China's antiquated agri-business. New agri-investment, effective land resource management, and the correct positioning of China's agri-business under the WTO will then be fully supported by the liberated peasant population.
Without the modernization of the peasant class, China will not succeed in its transformation to a modern world. All modern states today have gone through the process of urbanization, the spread of civil society and a universal education system. With its huge population, China's rural economy is a great potential market. The unshackling of the peasant population will prove to be the greatest release of the hidden potential of China.

6) on free trade unions
In the midst of China becoming a market economy and trading with the rest of the world, the relationship between labor and government is also changing. While the government is getting out of state enterprises, pushing them to become companies with share ownership, labor's main negotiations will no longer be with the government. Instead it will be with the management of enterprises.
Government should play the role of setting rules and regulations. In addition it should play the role of a referee between labor and management. This will help resolve labor unrest and enhance stability. The current problem is while enterprises are fully recognized and protected by law, laborers are not. Laborers still do not have their own identity or representation before law. Therefore legislation of a trade union bill is urgently needed. This bill will allow the formation of free trade unions. Trade unions thus formed will represent laborers in their negotiations with management as well as government. This bill would also create the mechanism whereby labor unrest will be resolved in a peaceful and lawful manner.
China has signed the two UN Human Rights covenants. Section 8 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights specified the rights to organize, the rights to form national and international trade union associations, and that these rights shall be guaranteed by law. At the moment, tens of million workers are let go in the name of privatization of state enterprises. Many of the unemployed workers are on the street demonstrating. Therefore, the rights of citizens to organize and the rights of workers to form their own unions should be our first priority.
Currently, non-government organizations must be approved by the government. The ruling party and the government use this mechanism to forbid the forming of any organization they dislike. This in essence negates a citizen's right to organize and therefore is against the Chinese Constitution. The China Democracy Party has pushed hard for the right to form free trade unions. For this, many of our members are currently in jail.

7) on rule of law
A modern economy needs an environment whereby constitution rules supreme and with a system that is based on the rule of law. The Chinese Communist Party is now claiming they are heading towards rule of law. Yet it still insists on one-party rule. The party is still above the law and overlords everything. It is clearly an empty gesture to say they want rule of law. Today we have laws in China. But these laws are not derived via any consultation with the people. As a result the law of how we are governed is unjust and unacceptable. We need a new constitution that is fair and acceptable to all. Moreover the new constitution must be above all political parties. This includes the party in power.
The heart of the problem is that the Communists see the world through the lens of Marxism. Marxism claims the purpose of a state is to be the tool of oppression of the ruling class. It follows the law of the land and its constitution represents only the will and security of the ruling class. The communists being the current ruling class, any adjustment to the law and constitution will be arranged to further its rule and its vested interests. The law and constitution thus designed does not protect the rights of the ruled and disallows any dissent. A case in point: the new law on demonstration promulgated after the June 4th massacre became a laughing stock internationally. Outside of China it is known as the law of no demonstration.
The diverse need of the Chinese people can not be satisfied by a law and constitution designed for the sole benefit of a single group, i.e. the Communists. Thus the current constitution and rule of law have lost their meaning to the Chinese people, including many low-ranking party members. 20 years ago, at the end of the Cultural Revolution, a debate was started on whether the party should be above the law. This debate is still on-going. The Communist Party still refuses to give a clear answer on this question. Today they are swallowing the poison fruit of their own sowing. Some low-level officials at the county level openly declared that the party secretary of the county government is also above the constitution. If the party secretary of all levels of government start to claim supremacy over the constitution, a just and fair society will not be possible. Fair competition, fair taxation, fair distribution of wealth, fair sharing between labor and management, between peasants and city folks and fair competition between parties all become unattainable. Rule of law must be built on the base of a fair and democratic structure. Therefore the current body of law and constitution must change.
After the Second World War, the ruling Kuomingtang party invited the Communist Party and all the other parties of the time, into an exercise of constitution drafting. By Jan 1946, all parties involved came through with a constitution draft know as the Double Ten Draft. Unfortunately, the civil war soon broke out. The Double Ten Draft never had the chance to function as an unifying force. 50 years later, looking back, the 1946 draft still shines like a star beckoning to us the value of diversity and democracy. Surely, the 1946 draft should be used as the base for a new constitution draft. The 1946 draft may even help us in resolving the unification and the Taiwan issue.

8) on education
Education is invaluable to the economy and modernization. China has a thousands of years-old tradition of valuing education. The severe damages done to the education system of China during 1960s and 1970s by the Communists will be with us for a long time to come. In the last 20 years, China's higher education went through two major expansions. The first was basically a recovery from the Cultural Revolution. At that expansion China merely resumed university entrance examinations. The second and recent expansion of higher education is in part an effort to stimulate the economy, and to encourage education consumption. In this recent move, private contributions are welcome. We support these expansions.
The current education system and its deficiencies are widely known. There are two major bottle necks which are still taboos for public debate. One is independent private schools, particularly universities. China needs good private universities, especially the comprehensive type with humanities, social science, science, and technology all included. The second bottle neck is on the reform of curriculum. The monopoly of a single ideology in social science and humanities must go. In its place, diversity, modernity and liberalism shall be the norm to align with the advance education systems of the world.
Education should never again be the tool of propaganda for party ideology, nor the training ground for future generations of party functionaries. Education is the business of all Chinese. Our future depends on it. It shall never be a set up for the benefit of a single class, party or group. Currently, reform of the education system lags behind reforms of all other areas. This is because control over the education system is deemed vital to the survival of the current authoritarian rule. We expect a long road ahead of us.

9) on ecology
The concept of ecology, environment and sustainable development are now widely accepted. Even the political conservatives acknowledge these concepts. However, accepting the concepts does not necessary result in actions. Here we want to show the relationship between ecology and democracy.
First, we understand ecology is not only a Chinese issue, but also a global issue. Its protection requires international coordination. Such coordination between nations are usually guided by international institutions and treaties. In addition, results will also be heavily influenced by the existence (or not) of effective non-government watchdogs in each country. This is also exactly where the problem lies as far as China is concerned. The level of damage to China's ecology is already at the brink of disaster. Continued at the current rate, China may become an uninhabitable ghost-land for many generations to come. China' ecological problem cannot be resolved without China being democratic at the same time. Without the strong media watchdogs of a democracy, profit motives and vested power are unchecked. Damages done to the ecology will continue to rise.
When the effective counter weight of a democracy is absent, major ecological disaster are prone to happen. This is because those in power and their lackeys, who often dream of glorious and monumental projects, will be completely unopposed. Under an un-democratic environment, independent scholars and environmentalists will be silenced. Even the mild China Sustainable Development Association was banned last year.
Therefore our position is we support the concern on ecology. But democracy needs to take place first for ecology protection to be meaningful. We also believe, if China's transformation is as smooth as Taiwan's, China may be able to reduce the level of damage to its ecology. On the other hand, if China's transformation should take a irrational and violent route, then we are afraid a major ecological disaster will be unavoidable. This is absolutely what we want to avoid.

10) on military
The military is supported by tax dollars and its purpose is to defend a country from external threats. Hence it belongs to the people and should obey only the will of the people. The military should never be the private property of one party.
Our position is the military must belongs to the state, not the party. It should be neutral in politics. We oppose any meddling in politics by the military. We observe that in many countries, when transiting towards democracy, the military usually takes the side of dictators and becomes a stumbling block towards democracy. This is because, in addition to their self interest, their main role in these countries is to suppress internal revolts instead of protecting the country from without. In a democracy, the military will not have the role of internal security. That role belongs to the security police. Therefore, the need for the military to meddle in internal politics is absent in a democracy.
Today's democracies rarely go to war between themselves. Most conflicts between democracies can be resolved by political, economic, or diplomatic means. This is in contrast to the many wars between dictatorships throughout history. Wars do happen between democracies and dictatorships. The 20th century has seen two World Wars and many localized wars of this nature. They all end with the democracies coming out victorious. Should the entire world become democracies, chances of war will be further reduced. An age of peace will be with us. Clearly the mega-trend of the world today is towards democracy and arms reduction. Correspondingly, the military trend is towards downsizing and high tech. The huge savings from a small military, if used on education, science, and technology will bring great benefit to a country and its people.
When countries have no territorial ambitions, the military becomes truly a defense force. In such countries, its strength does not come from its military but from its advanced social institutions. The strength of its economy and technology are its true deterrent. The military then becomes a force of last resort. Only those countries, with the ruling class treating power as their private properties, will continue to cling onto the military.

11) on minorities The Chinese people are an amalgamation of many races. During its thousands of years history, there were times the Han Chinese ruled over the minorities. As well, there were times the minorities invaded and ruled over the Hans. Over thousands of years, amalgamation took place of both race and culture and we have accumulated a wealth of knowledge in dealing with issues between races.
Based on all the UN human rights covenants, we strongly advocate the equality between all races and the equality and freedom of religion of all races within China. We believe a varying degree of self-rule is a way to harmonize race relationships and is the base for a united and prosperous China for all.
The dictatorship of the Communists is indiscriminate. The Han Chinese, being the majority, bears the brunt of its cruelty. Without overcoming the tyranny in its bulk, the rights of minorities will have even less of a chance. The urgent task at hand is to unite all races in the fight for democracy. Only when democracy is established, can the rights of minorities be protected and race relationships become harmonious.
Self-determination was successfully used during the time the colonized people fought for their independence. We need to point out that the self-determination mentioned in all the UN documents are related to conquered people by another country. When colonization is not involved, UN deems it incompatible with its charter for there to be any attempt to split a member country.
China is a huge land mass where different races have come together in the long years of history. It is not the result of colonization. We therefore oppose the misuse of self-determination in the context of China. It can only lead to discontent and even disaster.

12) on one country with two systems and the issue of Taiwan
We are confident a solution will be found on the issue of Taiwan. Clearly, the Taiwan issue hinges on China's democratization. Without democracy in China, Taiwan is unwilling to return. This is to be expected. For most, it is better to be poor under a democracy than to be rich under a dictatorship. People in Taiwan have both wealth and democracy. Naturally, they are doubly unwilling to be ruled by communism. Many in China today will go into debt, or take to the seas, or even risk their lives to emigrate. These are Chinese who grew up under communism. One can hardly accuse them of being unpatriotic. In effect they are saying: we are willing to be patriotic, but first the country must deserve our devotion. It is human nature to love freedom. A place without freedom and human rights dispels rather than attracts.
Unification between China and Taiwan, from an economic point of view, should not have major impediments. This is because both sides believe in a market economy and will become one market area overtime. From the stand point of race, culture and religion, there are no major impediments to unification either. The only impediment comes from the different ways of life across the Taiwan Strait. China is a dictatorship while Taiwan is a democracy. Once China becomes democratic this last impediment will also go.
The Chinese Communist leadership used to insist on a forced "liberation" of Taiwan in the first 30 years of their rule. After reform they came to realize that people in Hong Kong and Taiwan live a better life than theirs. It became obvious that it is futile to force socialism onto them. They then retreated to the current position of one country with two systems. It begs the question: If the two systems continue, how is it different than two separate countries? The natural thing to do is to have one country with one system. It behooves us to compare and select the best system for our one country.
The Communist Party must come to grips with this reality. Accordingly, it should let all know that there is a plan and a time table to move away from one country with two systems. The one country is neither the People's Republic of China nor the Republic of China. It is a confederation inclusive of both and other special regions. Only boldly facing this reality will help us resolve the issues between all sides. Eventually, one country with the best system will bring forth the harmony and prosperity we aim for.
The China Democracy Party solemnly declares that under the current situation in China, that is when people have no say under an undemocratic regime, no mandate can be established whatsoever to take military action against Taiwan. Therefore we oppose any military move on Taiwan.

13) on foreign policies
After the Second World War, international diplomacy, under the guidance of UN and the UN Declaration on Human Rights, focused on world trade and world peace. A democratic China will be suitable as a strategic partner with the US and Europe for world peace. In the past decade China has found itself in an awkward position with its foreign relationships. Its root problem is not due to a ganging up on China by the West, nor is it due to a concerted effort to villify China, as the China Communists believe. China's problem internationally is due to its image as a serious offender of human rights internally. Moreover, it consistantly sides with international rouge states who have committed crimes against humanity. China becomes their spokesman and their ringleader. This further tarnishes China's image. A democratic China will extricate itself from its current isolation caused by the wrongful policy of the current regime. It will cease its confrontational stance towards the West. China will become part of the mainstream. As a result, China's international standing should greatly improve.
China shall not enter into an anti-US alliance with Russia. This is a long and lonely road leading to a lengthening of the Cold War and a dead-end of joint poverty with Russia. China will not seek hegemony. China will accept the status quo of one super power in the midst of many powers. It will work to reduce confrontation and mistrust with the US, Europe and Russia. Real partnerships will be formed with them for world peace.
China will support the expansion of NATO. We welcome the union of all European countries. We advocate concrete assistance from the West to help Eastern Europeans' economic recovery.
China will actively participate in UN human rights activities internationally. China will accept the position that human rights come before sovereignty. Based on this principle, China will join forces with other leaders of the world to build a new world order in the new century.
In the Asia region, China will, on the one hand continue its watch of Japan's sincerity in its reflection on war crimes, and any hint of a revival of Japanese militarism. On the other hand China will support the two Koreas uniting under a democracy. China, Japan, and a united Korea will cooperate in maintaining peace in Asia. China will work to earn the respect of the world. Its strength and its moral stance shall be commensurate with its stature as a world leader.
The China Democracy Party opposes the current propaganda of the Chinese Communists. It is designed to deflect legitimate criticism of China's human rights record. Moreover it is fanning an anti-West sentiment among the young. It misleads the younger generation to equate patriotism to anti-West sentiments. In so doing they have bound the future of the young to that of the Communists.

14) on transition to democracy
We have a clear understanding that democracy is not ideal. An ideal system does not exist in real life but in an utopia. In a democracy there may be many short-comings. But, when compared to the evils of a totalitarian system, these short-comings are insignificant. Democracy thus becomes the best political system human society has known so far.
Authoritarian states have been around for a long time. They sometimes even overcome some democracies. However, authoritarian states have three fatal flaws. One is its succession problem. Its succession usually takes the form of passing power to successively weaker or even incapable rulers. Or it can take the form of a violent putsch. Secondly, an authoritarian system does not have an effective feedback mechanism within its decision making process. Disastrous or even self-destructive decisions won't be checked until too late. Thirdly, the absolute power of an authoritarian state leads inevitably to corruption. Privileges and corruption are unstoppable in such systems. In the long run authoritarian systems can not compete with the more healthy democratic systems.
We also do not expect the transition from an authoritarian system to a democracy to be a simple switch-over. China, with a long tradition of authoritarian rule, may have to go through a few reversals in its migration towards democracy. The history of many democratic countries tells us democracy will overcome eventually. Matured democracies are now established in many countries. China's migration towards democracy began at the Hundred Day Reform of 1898. By now we have gone through the see-saws between reform and dictatorship a number of times. We believe these types of wild swings will subside over time, eventually settling down to a stable state of democracy. The see-saw process is both painful and destructive. The high price involved often frightens people away from reform. Yet the pain we are currently suffering can be likened to the pain of birth. This is the price the Chinese people must pay to end thousands of years of despotic tradition and to usher in a new age of democracy and vitality.
In the 1920's, Dr. Sun Yat-sen proposed a three-step process towards democracy. The first step would be a military rule for the eradication of war lords of the time. This would be followed by a training period when a number of democratic practices will be under trial. The third period would see China becoming a full constitutional democracy. At the time, the Chinese Communists opposed this plan under the pretense that they wanted full democracy immediately. Today, some 80 years later, this plan still looks very attractive. If the Chinese Communists are truly concerned about the shock effect of a transition to democracy, and not an excuse for holding onto power, then we would like to see a time table from them. The time table should tell us when they will migrate from their version of a "training period" to a full constitutional democracy. Ten years, twenty years, thirty years, forty years? We demand a time table.
In the whole of the 20th century, the Chinese people have been searching for a path to revival. We have sacrificed for the cause and bore the pain and the suffering in the process. At the end of the century we have gained the clear understanding of where we are heading with a renewed determination. In the new century we will go all out until final victory.

Closing Remarks
Last but not least, we strongly demand the release of our leaders Mr. Xu Wenli, Mr. Wang Youcai , and Mr. Qin Yongmin. We also call for the release of our leaders who were sentenced to long prison terms in the second wave of crackdowns this past year. They are Mr. Cha Jianguo, Mr. Gao Hongming, Mr. Liu Sijun, Mr. Wu Yilong, Mr. Mao Qinxiang, and Mr. Zhu Yufu.
The release of other dissidents is also an important concern of ours. They are Mr. Hu Sigeng, Dr. Wang Ce., poet Yu Xinjiao, Mr. Peng Min, and Mr. Jiang Qisen. We call for the immediate stop to further persecution of our party, and of all dissidents. We also call for the immediate stop to persecution of Fa Lun Gong and other religious groups and their activities.
We do not advocate violence. On the other hand, we do not back down from violence thrown at us. Our endeavor is what history demands of us and therefore is an inevitability. We are but the continuation of thousands who have gone before us. To think that arrests and white terror can stop us is to misjudge our time and where the world is heading. Mr. Cha Jianguo in his recent trial in Beijing, said: "China Democracy Party members are not afraid of death. What then is the significance of a jail term to us?" This exemplifies our righteousness and our confidence that truth is on our side. We do not shut out a Communist out of hand. We even hope that China's thousands of years of authoritarian rule together with its draconian measures will end with the help of the Chinese Communists. We therefore call on Chinese all over the world, our friends internationally, and even the reform factions of the Communist Party to join forces with us to bring about a democratic China.
In the new century, we hope to see more happy times for the whole nation and less confrontations in the streets. Our enterprise may have its ups and downs but we can never be stopped. This is because we align ourselves to the common goal of the Chinese people and to the future direction of the human race. We believe those who align themselves with the future can never be defeated. Compatriots, China Democracy Party will join hands with you. Together we shall boldly embrace the new century of democracy!

China Democracy Party
Beijing Head Quarters
2000 01 01

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