~This Issue's Index~

Working for a Peaceful Transformation:
The Road Ahead for the Chinese Democracy Movement

By Wang Dan
Translated By Yingying Chi

The Chinese democracy movement, with intellectuals as its driving force, has endured since the founding of the PRC in 1949. As used in this article, "democracy movement" refers to collective social actions which clearly present the standpoint of a political opposition and are distinguished by their organization, scope, ideology, and openness to the public. This kind of democracy movement asserted its influence from its budding in the 1979 "Democracy Wall" movement in Beijing to its eruption into the wide-scale student protests in 1989. In 1998, mainland Chinese democracy activists announced the creation of an opposition party-the China Democracy Party-marking the beginning of a new phase in the development of the Chinese democracy movement.

The mainland democracy movement, which is currently focused on organization, is now spreading to every province and city of China. Approaching one thousand in number, publicly active political dissidents are establishing contacts with one another and exercising definite influence inside and outside of China. As a result, in April 1999 the Chinese authorities launched a severe suppression campaign against these democracy activists. To date, some one hundred China Democracy Party members have been arrested, and, one after another, regional party leaders have received heavy prison sentences of ten years or more. Yet the democracy movement has not been subdued. Even during the suppression campaign's harshest hour, the China Democracy Party managed to establish new branches. Thus the confrontation between the authorities and the movement has already taken shape. Despite the arrests of democracy activists, new members are continually taking up the struggle, and as a result, authorities have been unable to completely curb the power of the movement.

Democratic Transition
The development of the Chinese democracy movement has already started to influence the future direction of Chinese politics, with three significant consequences. First, it is hastening the emergence of a democratic culture. Because China is a country that lacks a democratic political culture, the citizenry has little consciousness of individual rights and few desires for freedom. Therefore, the launch of the democracy movement was a sort of awakening, enlightening both the thought and action of the citizenry. Only with a healthy political culture can China's democratic system be established and solidified. In this respect the democracy movement is filling a vacuum in China's political development.

Second, the democracy movement is undergoing standardization. Opposition movements in the mainland have always been spontaneous and diffuse, and the formation of the Democracy Party was an attempt to organize and standardize the various groups into a single, solid opposition movement. In China's future political transformation, it is certain that more opposition groups will appear, and opposition movements will arise. At this point, a broad, standardized political opposition movement will help ensure a relatively stable and successful transition. However, the authorities' suppression of the Democracy Party could force the opposition movement to abandon its efforts at standardization and thus deal a blow to the chances for a peaceful evolution toward democracy.

Third, the formation and strengthening of the Chinese democracy movement will establish a foundation for China's future political structure. An effective political system should be able to incorporate in its power system the interests of every social group. Political forces outside of the CCP that will be a part of the future political structure will necessarily participate in the transformation. These forces are beginning to take shape and can accelerate China's political transformation.

Although China's democratic forces are still quite weak, for the three reasons outlined above their prospects for development cannot be ignored. The international community needs a democratic China as a responsible member of the global mainstream; thus, it must continue to support the mainland democracy movement. China's present democracy movement is a positive factor for future political transformation in China, whereas the current authorities' policy of suppression is irresponsible and dangerous for China's future and international peace and stability.

A New Start
The Chinese democracy movement has reached a new starting point. It has two main goals: to establish democratic politics in China, and to consolidate and solidify democratic politics in China. There is hope that the first goal can be realized in ten to fifteen years. Social trends will make the totalitarian system increasingly unable to maintain its rule. The people's need for democracy and freedom will surely, in an eruption of social contradictions, force the totalitarian government to step down. In order to achieve this goal, the movement must make efficient use of its time to concentrate and organize its forces. It must develop a feasible and constructive replacement program as its guiding principle on the basis of thorough research of the domestic situation. Drawing on guidance and support from the international community, it must promote a peaceful political transformation process. The second goal is much more distantly achievable and demanding than the first. Its realization will rely on the emergence of a strong, independent civil society and on the popularization of democratic thinking. To this end, once China enters the political transformation phase, democracy workers should join mainstream society. Using existing moral and political resources, they should promote the development of the market economy, civil society, and freedom of speech, as well as supervise the new democratic government.

Democratization in China will be a long and difficult process, and it is crucial that more forces join the democracy movement. The generation that participated in the 1989 student movement-the "Tiananmen generation"-constitutes the new driving force behind the democracy movement. Over 60% of the China Democracy Party's members were students in the 1989 movement. As a member of this group, I am particularly concerned about how democracy can be consolidated and internalized in China, and I intend to participate in the building of a powerful civil society in China in the near future. Because we are the new pro-democracy force, we are earnestly learning from the experiences of previous generations of Chinese activists and Western democracy movements. Having survived the gunfire of June 4, this backbone group of activists will undoubtedly exert even more influence in the future.