对C.M.【論民主中國的先決條件】之回应 / My Comments to C.M.s "Pre-conditions for China's Democratization"

The following are the comments I provided to fellow blogger C.M., author of "Inhuman Resources", concerning his series on 【論民主中國的先決條件】. For those who are interested in the topic, I would strongly encourage you to pay a visit to C.M.'s site (click on the highlighted words below).

While I do not necessarily agree with all of C.M.'s argurements and positions, I do find it encouraging that the topic is being discussed in the first place and that we are able to agree to disagree in a most civilized manner.

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My comments posted on C.M.'s 【論民主中國的先決條件之 (6)】 http://inhumanresources.blogspot.com/2008/04/6.html

I spent the last hour reviewing your articles, from 【車仔話】 dated March 25th, to 【論民主中國的先決條件 (6)】 dated April 20th. Here are my comments:

1. You have chosen "mobility" as your "entry point" to assess the feasibility and readiness of implementing "democracy" in China. Moreover, you intend to demonstrate that "mobility" is the pre-condition for such implementation. Unfortunately, you had deliberately left out the definition of "democracy" that is after all the subject of the discussion. (Reference: Your April 11th comments at the end of 【論民主中國的先決條件 (4)】: "... 我覺得“民主”這兩字，對於眾人的分歧實在不少，所以寧願留白，讓人各取所需。") In response to VC's question "... 你打算定義甚麼是民主嗎?", you provided the following: "... 小弟一直在這裡寫的“民主”，採用了一個比較狹隘的定義，大致是：是否“人民”選出（例如通過投票直選）。" But then in subsequent articles, you seemed to have broadened the definition of democracy beyond 「民主制度」(which is a process/model/system) to 「人民作主」(which is a principle). As reader, I find it difficult to follow a discussion with a moving target.

2. I actually don't understand why you have chosen "mobility" as the entry point to your discussion. As I read on, I am not sure whether you have convinced me that mobility is a pre-condition. It reminds me of my mother telling me to play basketball so I would grow tall; as opposed to the fact that tall people are chosen to play professional basketball. For me, there seems to be a difference of opinions on cause and effect. I would think that the opening up of China's economy is the main cause or driver of people's social, economic and geographical mobility. As VC pointed out: "... 印度證明了你的先決條件並不必要! .."

3. I would agree the use of India as a model is a good one because as developing countries China and India have many things in common. I also applaud you effort to point out that there are huge social-cultural differences that renders a direct application of the India democracy to China impractical. But that's as far as I would go. I do not believe that one can therefore jump to the conclusion and declare "... 在我有生之年，印度，絕不能取得經濟強國的稱號 ...". I would also submit that Nepal is only of passing interest and that there is little applicable resemblance to present-day China.

4. The articles seem to imply that there is only one kind of western democracy. Nothing can be further from the truth !!! There are many forms and models of democracy around the world. (Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy). Associated with each democracy model are specific features and characteristics. Only by examining the models and considering the ones that might be suitable can you then speculate on the pre-conditions; the necessary but not sufficient conditions; and the winning conditions; etc.

5. There are no rules that say a country cannot customize its own forms of governance out of the existing models. There is also nothing that stipulates a timeframe or ideal pace for democratization, if at all some might add. While some countries believe democracy is an end that justifies all means to achieve it, others consider it only as a mean to an end. I would suggest that each country should do its own need assessment; SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis; cost-benefit analysis; as well as risk assessment and risk management; etc before jumping head first into making hasty changes (unless time is of the essence).

6. Finally, there are indeed many factors that are unique to China and they should be taken into consideration as factors for or against making any changes. They should all be listed as opposed to dealing with them on a piece-meal basis. Thank you for your essay and I look forward to reading more !!!

(Please note C.M.'s responses to my comments are also posted on his site http://inhumanresources.blogspot.com/2008/04/6.html).