Democracy Or Populism the Politics of Public Opinion in China

chapter 21 Democracy or Populism The Politics of Public Opinion in China Yu Keping* Introduction One noticeable development of Chinese politics in recent years has been the increasing influences of public opinion on government decision-making. With the emergence of such internet-based “new media” as blogs, weibo and weixin, public opinion in China is deeply shaping China’s political process and chang- ing China’s political landscape. In the past couple of years, an increasing num- ber of political incidents were triggered by public opinion. Outstanding examples included the “Wen’an Incident in Guizhou,” “px Project Incident in Xiamen,” “Shifang Incident in Sichuan,” “Lei Zhengfu Incident in Chongqing,” “Qidong Incident in Jiangsu,” “Lon gnan Incident in Gansu,” “Haining Incident in Zhejiang” and “Wukan Incident in Guangdong” etc. Under the pressure of public opinion, a lot of corrupt officials were brought to justice. The most prominent example is Liu Tienan, the ex-deputy director of National Development and Reform Commission (ndrc). Some important government decisions were altered due to the pressure from public opinion. For instance, the collision of bullet trains in Wenzhou forced the central government to change its policies on high-speed train and some ongoing high-speed train programs were suspended as a result. The politics of public opinion is making its way in China. “Public opinion” has again become a popular term in Chinese politics and “respecting the public opinion” becomes a resounding political slogan. Some local governments even made a further step by incorporating public opinion into the decision- making on public policies and evaluation of government performance. Jiangyin city government of Jiangsu Province, for instance, initiated an “Happy Jiangyin” program with the intention to stimulate government reforms by bringing public opinion into the political process. In Huzhou city, Zhejiang Province, the local police authority attempted to evaluate and then direct police service by referring to public opinion. Mr. Xi Jinping, the newly inaugurated supreme * Yu Keping, University Chair Professor and Dean of School of Government, Peking University. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��6 | doi �0.��63/9789004308770_0�� <UN> Democracy or Populism 303 leader of ccp, decided to launch “The Mass Line Campaign” in various organi- zations of ccp in the second half of this year,1 which is not only a continuation of ccp’s political tradition since Mao Zedong’s era, but also mirrors the central authorities’ recognition of the importance of public opinion against the back- ground of new historical circumstances. However, the politics of public opinion also gives rise to another outcome, i.e. the rise of populism. Under certain circumstances, the surging public opinion can also become a sort of “soft violence” and distort normal social and political life. Especially on the Internet, some parochial and irrational opinions are engendering “internet violence,” overwhelming the rational voices of soci- ety, interfering in the independent judicial process and the routine decision- making process as well as trampling citizens’ (officials included) legal rights. Some evil-minded businessmen and politicians even hired tremendous num- bers of people to fabricate “public opinion” on the Internet in order to achieve their personal interests. So what is the state of public opinion politics in contemporary China? As far as the politics of public opinion is concerned, what are the main mechanisms and key fields? What implications will the rise of public opinion bring to the political development in China? Does it represent progress towards democratic politics or an overflow of populism? This chapter will try to answer those questions. 1 The Politics of Public Opinion: Major Mechanisms Public opinion should be the basis for public policies. Under democratic sys- tems, public opinion is the major source of legitimacy for public policies. All decision-makers will spare no effort to claim their policies are consistent with the will and demands of the vast majority of people. Here, ccp is a good example that deserves more attention. As one of the “magic weapons” of ccp in its long march to win the ruling position, “Mass Line” to some extent represents a type of public opinion politics. Top ccp leaders always attached great importance to the party’s relationship with the people: whenever the party has a close relationship with the people, then the party will usher in successes; whenever the party alienated itself from the people, then failures will follow suit. After the reform and opening up, Mr. Deng Xiaoping once again made 1 “Mass Line Education and Practice Conference of ccp held in Beijing,” People’s Daily, June 19, 2013. <UN>.

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