In a scathing criticism of the Chinese Communist Party's attempts to reinvent itself and win back public trust eroded by widespread corruption and social injustice, a cover story in an influential party journal says the party has allowed reforms to "severely regress" over the past 18 years.
The article, written by a professor from a provincial party school in this month's Yanhuang Chunqiu, says former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping had intended political reforms as well as the market reforms that have transformed China into a world powerhouse.
The author, Professor Wu Min, blamed the party's failure to implement greater democracy for unprecedented levels of official corruption, inequality and social unrest.
China's party's schools are where the country's most promising cadres are trained for governing and where the future of the Communist Party is debated. Professor Wu's is the most outspoken criticism since debate about increased democracy began within the party again last year.
The professor warns that excessive concentration of power in the party and its failure to separate itself from government could spell its downfall.
"The infinite postponing of Deng's political reform blueprint has resulted in grave consequences," he says. "Checks and balances of power are alarmingly lacking … the status quo should not be continued any more."
Professor Wu argues that reforms have stalled since "the 1989 political turmoil", referring to the crushing of the Tiananmen Square democracy protests, which was also ordered by Deng.
He cites examples such as rural elections at village level that had begun so promisingly in 1998 stagnating in recent years, and local people's congresses, which are supposed to monitor excesses of local officials, being in most cases powerless.
These are evidence that democratisation is "severely regressing", he says.
The director of the World and China Institute, Li Fan, said that with the party preparing for the 17th Party Congress due later this year, it was not unusual to see a liberalisation of debate in the lead-up, but "everyone is very careful not to step out of the circle, especially on topics of ideology".
The five-yearly party congresses are among the most important political events in China.
The Beijing-based monthly Yanhuang Chunqiu is published by a former director of the General Administration of Press and Publications, Du Daozheng, and has veteran cadres among its staff and readers.
The magazine caused a stir in February when it published an essay by academic Xie Tao arguing the only way for the party to survive was to adopt European-style democratic socialism. Mr Xie, a retired vice-president of the People's University, cited Switzerland as a model.
An economics professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, Hu Xingdou, said that while he was heartened that Yanhuang Chunqiu had been allowed to publish a series of progressive articles this year, they did not necessarily reflect the party or President Hu's thinking.
"There is some freedom (in Chinese media), and through these breakthroughs, President Hu is setting the ground for his future political reform," Professor Hu said.
"On the other hand,Yanhuang Chunqiu, supported by party veterans, is only playing a role of anger outlet, and very few magazines are allowed to express such liberal political points of view."
Red Media: China "Going Backwards"
It is rare enough that publications in China publish pieces that are highly critical of the Communist Party. It is rarer still that a Party publication publishes a piece that whacks Chinese leadership on its growing inability to win public trust over corruption, inequality, and social unrest--the sort of things ol' Karl, Vladimir Ilyich, and Mao would have been aghast with that are now commonplace in China. This bit of news highlights a tract written by a professor from an official Party school who sees Comrade Hu's gang backsliding on political reform. In contrast to strides made in market reforms, political reforms to address corruption, inequality, and social unrest have been less evident according to the author. Be forewarned though that this sort of occasional outburst is not indicative of current leadership thinking. From The Age: