Support for amendments belies naysayers’ prejudice
The draft amendments to the Constitution that had been proposed were formally adopted by an almost unanimous vote at the ongoing plenary session of the 13th National People’s Congress on Sunday. The changes have been rightly recognized as necessary to provide surety for the nation’s progress by advancing law-based governance and upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. They are of great significance to ensure prosperity and the lasting security of the nation.
The constitutional revisions enshrine what the ruling Communist Party of China has accomplished in the recent development of its praxis and theory by giving Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era constitutional authority.
Nobody can know better than the Chinese people themselves that the changes to the Constitution reflect the Party’s current understanding of China’s reality and its overall plan for the country’s development in the near future.
That’s why Chinese lawmakers, political advisors and the public have voiced firm support for the constitutional amendments, which are in accordance with the times, the demands of the country’s development and the aspirations of both the Party and the people.
Yet although all this should be self-evident, we know from experience that it will invariably prove capable of bearing some other interpretation by those who seek to disparage and denigrate China, and in particular its political system and ruling Party.
It has already become a habit for some in the West to speak ill of China’s political system. Although they should be naturally endowed with reason and inclined to use it, whenever it comes to China they choose to look at it through tainted glasses.
The constitutional revisions are meant to give full play to the advantages of China’s political system by consolidating the CPC’s governance capabilities. This institutional arrangement, including that on the tenure of the president and vice-president, is conducive to upholding and strengthening the overall Party leadership, improving the Party’s governance of the country, and safeguarding the authority of the CPC Central Committee as well as its centralized and unified leadership. It does not mean the end of the retirement system for Party and State leaders, nor does it imply lifetime tenure for any leader.
Yet some people in the West insist otherwise, even though it is only through specious speculation that they claim to know better.
These naysayers casually disregard the fact that China’s political system has developed and is evolving in accordance with the country’s unique national conditions.
Instead, they revel in their ignorance of China’s reality and hold fast to their mean, even malicious predisposition toward China’s political system out of their irrational, subjective and unprofessional ideological bias. Yet their deep-rooted ideological bias has led them to make one failed prediction after another about China. Their erroneous judgments are a litany of short-sighted calumnies against the Party and the nation.
Those Western politicians and media speaking ill of China this time are again showing how much they have staked in the inertia of their outdated thinking and how reluctant they are to put an end to their sport. Their desire is to impose upon China the political standards with which they are familiar and which favor their interests. Believing that the truth entails a loss to themselves, they have no compunction about making false claims and consider it excusable to speak so shamelessly.
They can only look at China’s politics through a prism of ideology rather than in an objective manner, and thus they cannot make sensible judgments in this regard. We hope these critics without true knowledge of China can visit the country someday to learn more about it.
The trend of reform and opening-up over the past four decades has justified the path the Chinese people have chosen and that the wishful thinking of the naysayers goes against the Chinese people’s aspirations for continued development and better lives.
What the country’s leaders are pursuing is in complete conformity with the well-being of the Chinese people, and this is reflected in the amendments to the Constitution that safeguard the gains that have been made in recent years and present the potentials that lie ahead to be realized. The amendments to the Constitution will provide a basic guarantee for China to safely navigate the challenging course that lies ahead and realize its long-anticipated rejuvenation.