For several years, a debate about political reform has been bubbling away in the upper echelons of China’s state apparatus. It has now received fresh fuel. Last week, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Liu Xiaobo, a dissident. And on Tuesday a group of former party officials published a letter demanding an end to censorship in China. The Communist Party’s central committee, which convenes on Friday, could discuss changes to the country’s authoritarian brand of capitalism. This is a debate China’s people deserve.
Reformist hopes centre on Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, who has made supportive noises about political change. In April he praised a partly discredited liberal former leader, Hu Yaobang. And in an interview with CNN aired in the US (but not China) on October 3, he described democracy and freedom as “irresistible”. Having overseen China’s arrival as a global economic superpower, does Mr Wen plan to use the autumn of his premiership to usher in a period of political renewal?
While it would be nice to think so, a big caveat should be entered. Public support from Chinese politicians for democracy and human rights is often little more than lip service. Even if Mr Wen is sincere, he may be thwarted. In the short term, Mr Liu’s Nobel prize may have strengthened the hand of China’s conservatives. More broadly, the country’s success in weathering the economic crisis has reinforced the belief within the Communist Party that its type of authoritarian capitalism trumps the west’s blend of political and economic freedom.