Chinese elections on track for next week

This is the title of a post I wrote in the China Daily forum December of last year. The title refers to a fictional Reuters article I made up, dated September 20, 2016.

Do I really believe Chinese people will have political freedom by that time? Well, I'm hopeful. I have to believe that slow gains in freedom of speech and information will have only a good effect in China. But it's still a complicated issue, and people who should know better than me aren't too optimistic. For example, Hong Kong's Apple Daily correspondent in Washington, D.C., wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post that he doesn't expect to see democracy in Hong Kong within his lifetime, not to mention China itself.

But, to back up my claims that Chinese politics is liberalizing, the China Daily forum moderators apparently didn't see anything wrong with allowing this mild, indirect form of commentary:

Chinese Elections on Track for Next Week
September 20, 2016

BEIJING (Reuters) - Nearly 12 percent of Chinese voters are still undecided just one week before the most important national elections of the century take place in this land of 1.5 billion people. Since the opening up of the political system five years ago, Chinese citizens have been bombarded with a virtual non-stop political campaign that has grown in intensity as new political parties have organized and gained strength.

Chinese voters have already participated in local and regional elections that presented them with outspoken candidates that have largely defeated incumbent Communist party leaders. Many of China’s new provincial governors run on local-issue campaign themes that emphasize the difference between them and candidates representing the central government.

In the National People’s Congress, representatives have long advocated issues not in line with central government planners, resulting in the 2011 national crises. Since then, concessions by the Communist government have further strengthened democratic voices and spurred calls from within the central government to establish new organization based on local representation.

"We need to be a party of the people, not of the bureaucrats,” said former Communist Party leader Wen Jiaobao in a recent meeting. “Chinese people have a strong voice, and the government should amplify their voices, not dilute them.”

Single, centralized governments have traditionally ruled China since the dynastic period up until the formation of the People’s Republic of China under the Communist regime. In contrast, the upcoming national elections promise to decentralize political power and create a representative government.

Amidst the political confusion, some Chinese voters are unsure of which of the three main candidates they will support. “Honestly, I don’t know who to believe, but all I can do is trust our new system,” said one Beijing university student. “I have confidence it will work. Just look at the way Korea changed. Now, the people have the power.”