Democracy Would Have Catastrophic Repercussions: Chinese Media

China would have suffered "catastrophic repercussions" had it opted for democracy and bogged down with "endless political bickering", the official media said today in Beijing, staunchly defending the ruling Communist party's monopoly on power.

"Hindsight shows us that the Western political system, which is not inherently problematic and was designed to encourage 'freedom', would have been incompatible to a country where efficiency has driven economic growth and social development," an editorial titled 'If China took another path' in the state-run China Daily said.

"The ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, provides a suitable backdrop to reflect upon the country's 61-year-old fundamental political system," said a commentary in official Xinhua news agency.

It shrugged off the image of a rubber stamp parliament for its 3,000-strong member NPC for its routine adoption of bills put forward by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).

The NPC is currently holding its 10-day annual session.

"Had the world's most populous nation been governed by a bipartisan system, what might have happened?," it asked.

The CPC has been ruling the country since the People's Republic was proclaimed in 1949.

"Seemingly endless political bickering, inherent in the Western model, would have resulted in political dysfunction, which in turn would have had catastrophic repercussions for a nation with a population four times as large as the United States," the China Daily editorial further said.

Political lobbying would have diluted the unique strength and success of China's "concentrating resources to do big things", it said.

"Should China have adopted a system that facilitated lobbying among interest groups, it would have been caught in a self-perpetuating cycle of endless debates.

"Even in comparison with the Republicans in the United States, filibusters in a Chinese congress would have made any healthcare or poverty reduction bill extremely difficult to pass," it said.

"A system that allows plurality is fertile ground for election rigging, vote buying and the silencing of minorities. In a country as ethnically and geographically diverse as China, the fires of opposition would have been stoked and the nation divided," it said.