Opposing editorials reflect ideological rift in Communist Party
Opposing views on the need for constitutional checks on power reflect party's ideological rift
Two key party-run publications ran editorials yesterday expressing sharply opposing views on the issue of constitutionalism- the idea that a government's power should be restrained by a higher system of laws that protects citizens' rights.
One, from the People's Daily, warned that the concept was a Western conspiracy to impose Western ideals on the mainland, while the other was a call for democratic reform.
Another article in Study Times, a publication of the Central Party School, argued that it was more imperative for China to proceed with political reform as the country had reached a critical juncture - an appeal apparently made to the new leadership under President and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping .
The front-page commentary in the overseas edition of the party-run People's Daily said the spread of "constitutional-rule" ideas - in China was fostered by foundations affiliated with US intelligence agencies that aimed to overturn socialism.
The People's Daily article warned that constitutionalism under the disguise of "democratic socialism" was more dangerous than one under the name of capitalism as the former was designed to subvert socialism around the world.
It added that since the beginning of the cold war, US intelligence agencies had seen "democratic socialism" as powerful ideological weapon against "totalitarianism". The article added that such views were shared by prominent Anglo-American thinkers of the 20th century, such as historian Arthur Schlesinger, British philosopher Isaiah Berlin and US diplomat George Frost Kennan, whose writings made him known as "the father of containment".
The article said that US intelligence community had also used various foundations to promote constitutionalism in China and cited how the Ford Foundation had largely funded the Comparative Constitutionalism Project in the late 1980s.