The 79-page document issued by the State Council (China's Cabinet) Wednesday, titled "Building of Political Democracy in China," covers 10 areas intended to reinforce the justification of a single premise: the Communist Party of China maintains its stranglehold on political supremacy and a major influence shaping the country.

The white paper acknowledges "there is still a long way to go in China's building of political democracy, which will be a historical process of continuous improvement and development." It says "the CPC and the Chinese people are clearly aware of the many problems yet to be overcome" and lists seven areas that need improvement: the democratic system; the people's right to manage state and social affairs, economic and cultural undertakings in a socialist market economy; laws that have been enacted but are sometimes not observed or enforced, and violations that go unpunished; bureaucracy and corruption; mechanism of restraint and supervision over the use of power; democracy and legal awareness; and political participation.

The white paper offers an explanation of "grassroots democracy" (the limited exercise of direct suffrage in rural and urban localities) and the multiparty system of "cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC." It also addresses the rights of ethnic minorities, human rights and explores the communist concept of democratic rule from three perspectives: party, government and judicial.

The report makes clear China will follow its own counsel on what democracy is, and how it will develop. The preface notes "democracy of a country is generated internally, not imposed by external forces." This notion is reiterated in the first chapter, "A Choice Suited to China's Conditions."

This section makes the argument "the truth that the political system a country adopts and the road to democracy it takes must be in conformity with the conditions of that country," adding "the history and reality of human political civilization have proved that there is no one single and absolute democratic mode in the world that is universally applicable."

It then takes readers through a short summary of China's 5,000 year history as a distinct civilization and traditions with special emphasis on events after 1840 when "the Western imperialist powers launched, time and again, aggressive wars against China."

The white paper states, "The bourgeois republic, including the parliamentarism (sic) and multiparty system that were subsequently established after the Revolution of 1911 in imitation of the mode of Western democracy, did not fulfill the fervent desire of the Chinese people for independence and democracy."

"Through painstaking exploration and hard struggle, the Chinese people finally came to realize that mechanically copying the Western bourgeois political system and applying it to China would lead them nowhere."

The path to a new China began in 1921 with the formation of the Communist Party and its 28 year protracted struggle to survive and ultimately triumph over the rival Kuomintang party established by Sun Yat-sen, father of the 1911 revolution.

"The CPC creatively combines the general truth of Marxism-Leninism with the actual situation of the Chinese revolution, setting out such democratic concepts as 'democracy for the workers and peasants,' 'people's democracy,' and "new democracy,' to enrich and develop Marxist theories on political democracy," the report says.

These ideas and the concept of a "democratic dictatorship" were formulated by Mao Zedong, but neither he nor any Chinese Communist is mentioned by name in the report except the current leader, Hu Jintao in the chapter on Party democracy. The white paper touches upon the tragedies of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), but says nothing about the crushing of the pro-democracy movement in 1989.

Another chapter, "The CPC Led the People to Become Masters of the State" describes the Party's leading status as being established gradually as "a choice made by history and by the people." It repeatedly stresses the CPC as taking China down the "correct road" including "winning national independence and liberation" and building it into "a prosperous, democratic and civilized modern country."

"Precisely because of this historical reason that the CPC's leading status is clearly described in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China" the white paper says, noting "today, the CPC's leadership and rule in China is an objective requirement of the country's development and progress."

The paper also puts considerable emphasis on stability. The CPC's leadership and rule is needed to "safeguard China's unification and keep Chinese society harmonious and stable." The party's predominance is also needed for "making state power stable."

The report describes the role of the Party in authoritarian terms.

"Experience has shown that, in China, it is the CPC that unites the Chinese people, gives full play to their enthusiasm, initiative and creativity, and has them engage, heart and soul, in the common struggle for their common interests, common cause, common ideal and a better future for China."

It claims "the CPC's leadership and rule is, in essence, to lead, support and ensure that the people are the masters of the state." The Party exercises power in four areas: by wielding state power through people's congresses; by its pervasive presence in political, economic, social and cultural affairs; by practicing grassroots democracy; and by the promotion of a legal system to enforce its dictates.

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