77Received 20.04.2021.
Abstract. The Year 2021 is significant because of the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CCP). This is a plausible opportunity to review the accomplishments of the ruling party in the last decades, especially in the period of the current leadership headed by Xi Jinping. As China under Xi is edging closer to its ultimate aim of “the Great Renaissance of the Chinese Nation”, its relations with the US, the current hegemon of the world order have experienced a severe downturn. Seen against the backdrop of Ñhina’s deteriorating relations with the US and the West in general in recent years, the public opinion in the country has generally shifted towards anti-western and patriotic sentiments. There is in the international media, as well as in academia, a widely accepted image of China under Xi Jinping as a country where there is significantly less space for pluralistic discussions, different opinions and independent voices. Critical opinions arguably have been effectively muted, and the realm of liberal freedoms has shrunk probably to the levels of the start of the reforms’ era or even earlier times. An ongoing debate on the issue of interaction between the government policies and public opinion is important to a better understanding of the evolution of the Chinese polity. Does the system block all the critical voices from below and allow the information flow only top-down? Or should we probably pay more attention to the concrete efforts by the governments at different levels to stimulate and legitimize the grass-roots reactions to government policies? In this article we take a look at whether there are still vibrant channels through which common people can voice their opinions, and whether the state keeps those channels of feedback working. The overall impression is that the above-mentioned image of the resurgent totalitarianism in China’s political system seriously underestimates the complexities of contemporary PRC, the country that is searching for its own China-centered methods and channels of activating citizens’ political participation.
Keywords: CCP’s 100th anniversary, the era of Xi Jinping, information space politics, public opinion, “the mass line”, citizens’ complaints and suggestions, citizen feedback, the role of the Internet, “whole-process democracy”
REFERENCES
- Bowman K. China, Coronavirus, and Public Opinion. Forbes, 21.05.2020. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bowmanmarsico/2020/05/21/china-coronavirus-and-public-opinion/?sh=72e88c753068 (accessed 05.02.2021).
- Sharp Drop in World Views of US, UK: Global Poll. Globescan, 04.07.2017. Available at: https://globescan.com/sharp-drop-in-world-views-of-us-uk-global-poll/ (accessed 18.04.2021).
- Silver L, Devlin K., Huang Ch. Unfavorable Views of China Reach Historical Highs in Many Countries. Pew Research Center, October 6, 2020. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/10/06/unfavorable-views-of-china-reach-historic-highs-in-many-countries/ (accessed 01.02.2021).
- Kim Yi, Dionne. Here’s what Africans think about China’s influence in their countries. Afrobarometer, 28 October, 2016. Available at: https://afrobarometer.org/blogs/heres-what-africans-think-about-chinas-influence-their-countries (accessed 01.02.2021).
- Karneev A. N. Znacheniye i smysl formuly rossiysko-kitayskogo strategicheskogo sotrudnichestva “v novuyu epokhu” [Significance and Meaning of the Russia-China Strategic Cooperation “In the New Era”]. RIAC, 11.02.2021. Available at: https://russiancouncil.ru/analytics-and-comments/analytics/znachenie-i-smysl-formuly-rossiysko-kitayskogo-strategicheskogo-sotrudnichestva-v-novuyu-epokhu/ (accessed 09.04.2021).
- Gonzalez M. China’s Public Opinion Warfare: How Our Culture Industry Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the PRC. The Heritage Foundation, February 5, 2015. Available at: https://www.heritage.org/asia/report/chinas-public-opinion-warfare-how-our-culture-industry-learned-stop-worrying-and-love (accessed 21.12.2020).
- Song Luzheng. “Diplomacy of the Warrior-Wolf” is one of the West’s instruments in containing China, we should not enter into this linguistic trap. Guanchazhe, 11.04.2021 (In Chin.) Available at: https://www.guancha.cn/SongLuZheng/2021_04_11_586965.shtml (accessed 15.04.2021).
- Sun Yun. Chinese Public Opinion: Shaping China’s Foreign Policy, or Shaped by It? Brookings, December 13, 2011. Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/chinese-public-opinion-shaping-chinas-foreign-policy-or-shaped-by-it/ (accessed 19.02.2021).
- Shetty N. Does Chinese Public Opinion on North Korea Affect China’s Foreign Policy? ICS Delhi Blog, 26.05.2017. Available at: https://icsdelhiblogs.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/does-chinese-public-opinion-on-north-korea-affect-chinas-foreign-policy/ (accessed 19.11.2020).
- Harsha Dan. Taking China’s Pulse. Ash Center research team unveils finding from long-term public opinion survey. The Harvard Gazette, 09.07.2020. Available at: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/long-term-survey-reveals-chinese-government-satisfaction/ (accessed 24.02.2021).
- Public Opinion in China Does Not Reflect the Public. The Peking Duck, 01.06.2012. Available at: https://www.pekingduck.org/2012/06/public-opinion-in-china-does-not-reflect-the-public/ (accessed 02.03.2021).
- Ñhinese people trust their government, media the most, global survey finds. Believe it or not? Shanghaiist.com, January 29, 2018. Available at: https://medium.com/shanghaiist/chinese-people-trust-their-government-media-the-most-global-survey-finds-7050ab437527 (accessed 07.02.2021).
- Chang Che. Do Chinese People support their government? Here’s why it’s hard to tell. A recent Harvard Ash Center study found that Chinese people are generally happier with their government now than ever. But there are at least three reasons why China’s public satisfaction numbers may not reflect performance. SupChina, 25.08.2020. Available at: https://supchina.com/2020/08/25/do-chinese-people-support-their-government-hard-to-tell/ (accessed 21.02.2021).
- Mitchell A., Diamond L. China’s Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone. The Atlantic, 02.02.2018. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/china-surveillance/552203/ (accessed 08.12.2020).
- Hu Xijin. Ossified and Decayed: Western Political System and its “Seven Fatal Deficiences”. Guanchazhe, 17.04.2021 (In Chin.) Available at: https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2021-04-17/doc-ikmxzfmk7286356.shtml (accessed 19.04.2021).
- Kim Jo. Exploring China’s New Narrative on Democracy. Amid growing concerns about its governance, China’s leadership is attempting to emphasize its own brand of democracy with “Chinese characteristics”. The Diplomat, 06.12.2019. Available at: https://thediplomat.com/2019/12/exploring-chinas-new-narrative-on-democracy/ (accessed 11.12.2020).
- On the Mass Line. A Collection of the Most Important Pronouncements Institute of Documentation of CCP Central Committee. Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, Dangjian duwu chubanshe, 2013. 150 p. (In Chin.)
- Number of Internet users in China from December 2008 to December 2020. Statista.com, February 9, 2021. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/265140/number-of-internet-users-in-china/ (accessed 19.04.2021).
- Kang Tao. Several thoughts on how to organize work with masses in the new situation of proliferation of new media. 17.05.2019. (In Chin.) Available at: https://www.wenmi.com/article/prmhbd042cxe.html (accessed 16.12.2020).
- Liu Bingyang. Social Media Use and Political Participation in China: The Mediating Role of Political Efficacy. University of South Florida. Graduate Theses and Dissertations. November 2017. Available at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7050 (accessed 16.03.2021).
- Keping Yu. Democracy or Populism: China’s Politics of Listening to Public Opinion. Zhongguo zhiku wang, 06.01.2015. (In Chin.) Available at: http://www.aisixiang.com/data/74256.html (accessed 22.11.2020).
- State Administration of Complaints and Suggestions (In Chin.) Available at: https://www.gjxfj.gov.cn/2021-01/18/c_1210984293.htm (accessed 16.03.2021).
- Fu D., Distelhorst G. Grassroots Participation and Repression under Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping. The China Journal, 2018, January, vol. 79, pp. 100-122. Available at: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/694299 (accessed 16.12.2020).
Registered in System SCIENCE INDEX
No comments