Scott Murdoch
The Australian
November 1, 2013
A rising proportion of China’s middle class believes the country does not need to become a democracy or introduce elections, despite its increasingly important role in the world.
A major new report by the Centre for Independent Studies, published yesterday, found the urgency for democracy in China is not growing in line with its rapid economic development.
China is now considered the fastest-growing nation in the world and is on track to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy in the next five years.
However, the report’s author, Benjamin Herscovitch, a Beijing-based analyst for the Australian think tank, said the majority of China’s middle class did not think citizens should be involved in government or policy decision making. “The Chinese Communist Party looks set to buck the trend of democratic reforms following China’s economic development and an expanding middle class,” he said.
“There are 75 per cent of China’s middle class that think citizens do not need to participate in government decision making and only 25 per cent believe multiple parties should be able to contest elections.”
China’s government will hold its national plenum early this month to set the nation’s economic, financial and political direction for the year ahead. It is expected the government will press ahead with economic and financial market reforms to continue China’s opening up.
The CIS report also found that 72 per cent of Chinese citizens are satisfied with conditions and nearly three quarters believe their financial livelihoods will improve in the next five years.
Some 404 million people in China are considered middle-class, about 30 per cent of the population. The number living in poverty is now about 13 per cent of the population.
In the report, Mr Herscovitch said while China’s economic growth was likely to remain strong it would not increase the chance of democracy becoming more popular.
“As we have seen, economic development does not necessarily translate into democratisation,” he said.
