ELI5: What are the criticisms made by the Chinese government against democracy and to what extent are they correct?

"Chinese Socialism has the ability to concentrate the nation's strength and put it to a project of large scale."

Evidence:

Developing nuclear weaponry faster than US and USSR.

Fast astronautic development with low incident rate.

The preparation work for 2008 Olympic. China just simply can come up with the large sum of money to put everything in place.

Majority of the population actually take pride in this.

Still, if misued, could be disastrous. Following the Mao's policy, citizens across the country give out everything that is made of iron, even kitchen pot, to boost the steel production. In the end, all we got are tons of useless metal.

"The US political system spends most of their time and money on campaign and interparty conflicts."

All you Americans seem to do in DC allday is coming up with an act and wait for the oppression to object it and then status quo.

If the Chines leader are to set up new act or regulation, they set up. There won't be someone to stop them because it makes the Communist party takes all the credit.

The government managed to restrict the illegal immigrants in Guangzhou, which is appreciated by the rest of the country. This probably wont happen if some are to point out this is a direct violation against our founding fathers will that every man is borned blah blah blah.

"It all comes down to the wealthy donors" True. Though, wealthy people gain power, no matter where.

However

Political intrigues inside the Communist Party may hold even more dark secrets. When a politician in US get screwed, he gets screwed. When a politicIan in China gets screwed, he gets in jail for corruption, and usually for life. Such events, along with the official coverup like reports lower the government reputation among the population.

Its difficult to draw a line between corruption and favors. Especially in China, whose people value the favor trading for a long time. Like what other said in the post, Chinese government is more like a company. Combined together, even if the leaders try to promote a "clean government clean party" , everyone knows favor trading will not disappear, nor will the corruption. BTW, military management has pretty much the same problems. Recruits without family financial backup and favor to trade usually ended up stationing in the border area or places with great unrest like Tibet. So if you are a normal folk without connection or favors to trade, you are likely to get bogged in a inefficient bureaucratic government.

No clear difference between party and government. In China, local party's chairman actually has more power than the mayor. Still, they usually are both party members. Not being a party member will severely hinder your job future, if you are a public servant, or work in a state-owned company. Basically many Chinese don't like the government, don't like the party, yet they are a member of this party.

I used to long for democracy in China, when I was a highschool student. Now I no longer wish for democracy. Oligarchy seems quite allright.

All I hope for are a free internet and unions that actually fight for the workers' benefits. Also no more stupid national propaganda, no more leader idolatrous propaganda.

/r/explainlikeimfive Thread