“God doest not require all countries worldwide to exercise the same political system.”
Zhao Qizheng, minister of the Information Office of the State Council, commented on the claim that the Chinese Government restricts press freedom while meeting a visiting delegation from the World Association of Newspapers a short time ago in Beijing.
In strict terms, the Chinese government’s attitude toward the press is management but not control, said Zhao. China has more than 8,000kinds of magazines, over 2,000 types of newspapers and more than 2,000 TV stations, including county-level ones. The Chinese government neither has the capacity to examine the contents of so many media units, nor has it the desire to do so. There are 550,000 people in China involved in the media. We encourage them to study and never intend to control them. However, the Chinese government requires them not to do things that violate the Constitution. For instance, the press should not engage in inciting activities with the aim of overthrowing China’s political power. Adverting violence and pornography is not permitted, as such reports do not tally with the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and China’s cultural tradition.
The Western media’s claim that China’s media has no freedom is mainly due to the fact that China’s media does not attack the government’s existing policies, said Zhao.
The Chinese government encourages the media to supervise and criticize public servants. The media can comment on and conduct academic discussions about the government’s policies. For instance, the media can expose the crimes of law-breaking officials and criticize local governments’ failure to implement government policies, such as those related to environmental protection. In the final analysis, the crux lies in the fact that China does not exercise a two-party political system like some other countries, and correspondingly the media cannot reflect the fight between two parties. Owing to this, some people say china’s media has no freedom and even claim that the Chinese government is autocratic.
Because China does not exercise a tow-party or multiparty system, there are no attacks against the government by the media driven by the interests of a specific party. In essence, the attacks launched by Western media asserting that China’s media is deprived of freedom are directed against China’s political system of China is different from those of Western countries.
China is a country with multi-party cooperation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Most foreigners don’t know this, and those who do know generally don’t agree with it, as this system is different from that of their own countries. God does not require all countries worldwide to exercise the same political system. China’s system is determined by our won national conditions. China has the largest population in the world. Our per-capita GDP had just approached USD 1,000 by the end of 2002, which was equivalent to one-10th of the Republic of Korea. Chinese citizens who have received a higher education only has two neighboring or allied countries, our situation is much more complicated. In the previous one century over the past 150 years, China had remained a defeated nation in all defense wars with other countries. To live on an equal footing with other countries in the world, the Chinese nation must become powerful. The practice of China’s social development proves that only the Communist Party of China(CPC) can make the Chinese nation powerful. Foreigners may find it difficult to understand this. But, the existing system of China is chosen by the Chinese people themselves. The leadership of the CPC has won the widespread support of the Chinese people. The people of China, a country with a long-standing cultural tradition, won’t accept an “autocratic” government. This is clearly justified.
The claim that China’s media has no freedom is, in fact, an attack against China’s state and political systems. This explains the practice of some Western media in misguiding the public opinion related to China.