Whole-process democracy, a new form of implementing people's sovereignty

China's whole-process democracy is a new form of implementing people's sovereignty, which pursues the unification of process and results-based democracy, procedural democracy and substantive democracy, direct democracy and indirect democracy, as well as people's democracy and state will, according to a report released Tuesday by New China Research, the think tank of China's Xinhua News Agency.

The Chinese people have the right to participate extensively in state governance, a right which is embodied in all aspects of China's democratic elections, democratic consultations, democratic decision-making, democratic management and democratic supervision, according to the report entitled "Pursuing Common Values of Humanity -- China's Approach to Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights."

China's whole-process democracy can be described in electing officials, deliberating state affairs, making policies, and overseeing the use of power.

In the Chinese mechanism of selecting officials, moral integrity, professional ability and past governing performances are the basic requirements for selection involving a democratic election to determine qualified officials, according to the report.

The report said that, as of April 2021, 94 percent of the 2.62 million deputies to people's congresses were from the county and township levels, all directly elected on a one-person-one-vote basis.

The whole-process people's democracy emphasizes citizen participation in the whole process of public policy-making, which allows citizens to participate before, during, and after the decision-making, and safeguards people's right to be informed, participate, be heard and oversee in order to find the best solution while drawing on the pooled wisdom of the people, the report said.

China's national legislature has publicly solicited opinions on draft laws on 230 occasions as of April 2021, the report added.

The scientific nature of policy-making is emphasized in China's democratic governance, and the outlines of the five-year plan for national economic and social development and other policies well illustrate democratic decision-making procedures, according to the report.

With full respect for the pioneering spirit seen at the grassroots level, the central government applies valuable grassroots experience in the decision-making of national reforms, the report said.

It also noted that China uses a series of institutional arrangements to set up, regulate, restrain, and oversee the exercise of power by law. These measures ensure that power is exercised within an institutional cage.