Healthy exchange of views

Good interaction with the public via the Internet and social media necessary for modern governance and social stability

The birth of the new media era, represented by the Internet and smartphones, has not only changed the manner in which people communicate, live and work, it has also catalyzed profound social changes.

Public opinions voiced via new media have raised demands for reform of the Party’s decision-making process, its established social communication mechanism and its traditional management of public opinion.

The number of people using the Internet and other new media has rocketed in China, distinctly changing the political landscape, although what kind of role these tools for public opinion can play in the country’s social and political spectrum, what functions they can produce and to what extent these function can be realized will be decided by its overall social conditions.

It is a phenomenon common to all countries that people from different social strata have different wants and needs and they express their opinions through different channels and in different manners. In the absence of enough channels for them to express their viewpoints, some will adopt non-traditional channels to make their voices heard.

The fast development of new media has expanded the channels available for Chinese people to make their views known and caused a sea change in relations among different social groups. The direct and unchecked expressing of varying and even conflicting public viewpoints via non-traditional transmission platforms not only serves as a helpful supplement to traditional communication channels, it also poses a severe challenge to them.

No country can afford to ignore the existence of social discontent or any growing disgruntlement, which might not necessarily be targeted at those in power but nevertheless can influence the relationship between a government and the public.

Currently, China’s social structure and values have experienced enormous changes and the whole society is in the process of radical transformations. Such transformations mean people need certain channels through which they can express themselves. The advent of blogs, micro blogs and Internet forums has played a positive role in meeting this need.

In a diversified society, different but unblocked communication channels and platforms should be set up and reserved for different groups so they can make appeals or complaints and express other sentiments in accordance with the laws so that their voices can be heard by decisionmakers. This is an effective way of defusing accumulating social discontent and promoting social stability. At a time when no other channels have been established for such purposes, the failure to include different public opinions and appeals into the mainstream or official opinion-expressing platforms will force people to use other means and thus fuel the chaos of social order.

For any country, people’s right to know and right to participate in state affairs remain basic and important human rights. For the Communist Party of China, openness, as a precondition to efforts for democracy, is an important measurement of the modernity of the Party and the government led by it. In the pre-Internet era, people’s information about Party and government affairs was mainly acquired through the spreading of written documents between lower and higher-level departments, a lowefficiency transmission method.

However, the Internet and social media have offered different and more convenient transmission alternatives for the Party and government to make public their affairs, and information can reach even remote cities and villages in an instant. At the same time, the Internet and social media can help citizens exercise their rights and enable them to participate in the administration of State affairs, as indicated by the intensive expression of views on some hot issues on the Internet, and the offering of proposals to the annual sessions of China’s top legislature and top advisory body. Prior to the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, many domestic Internet portals opened areas pooling opinions and proposals on issues of public concern for the top decision-markers.

Public participation via the Internet and social media has also offered decision-makers an effective channel for promoting democratic and scientific decision-making. Although people using the Internet and social media to participate in the discussions on State or government affairs do not represent the views of every one, their opinions can reflect the views of others. As a matter of fact, in the drafting of the Property Law, Labor Law, healthcare system reforms, as well as the medium- and long-term program for education reforms, the authorities have kept an ear open to public opinions expressed through the Internet. As part of democratic decision-making, good interaction with the public through the Internet and social media is in essence equivalent to setting up a low-cost and convenient channel for the expression of public opinions.

New media have played a positive supervisory role in China’s politics that traditional media cannot play. However, infringements into people’s privacy are possible on the Internet, thus calling for a sound legal system and appropriate law enforcement. The opening of a corruption reporting website by the country’s top anticorruption watchdog has been widely acclaimed as huge progress in fighting corruption, but other multi-layer supervisory channels are still needed.

There can be no doubt that China needs to appropriately regulate new media. For public opinions that do not touch the political bottom line, it is reasonable for them to be guided and restrained by the country’s mainstream norms and mores. However, guidance or restraint should be conducted according to the Constitution and laws when necessary. Yet this should not compromise people’s right to express their opinions, and their right to monitor and participate in the administration of State affairs should be respected. This is an intrinsic requirement for the building of socialist democracy and politics in China. The Chinese version of the article was published in Study Times.