'New left' scholar Hu Angang for strident defence of party line

Despite their long tradition of criticising Western systems of government, China's communist leaders from Deng Xiaoping to current President Xi Jinping have all acknowledged the need to reform the country's system one-party rule.

They point to the lack of checks and balances for widespread abuses of power and rampant corruption within the party.

But on several recent occasions, Hu Angang, a prominent Tsinghua University economics professor, has hailed China's current system is superior to those in West.

Hu, a leading member of the "new left", has again come under fire for his latest argument that China's current "collective leadership" was superior to the presidential system in the US. Last month, he triggered a wave of criticism for an article in the People's Daily describing Western-style governments as inferior to the "people's society" run by the Communist Party.

In an op-ed published on Friday in the Global Times, a hawkish tabloid affiliated with the People's Daily, Hu argued that China's collective leadership was a better system because, as a relative newcomer on the world stage, it was modern, up-to-date and innovative enough to deal with the complexities of the world today.

The US presidential system was mired in its rigidity because its founders could not foresee the fiercely competitive nature today's global politics.

"China's collective leadership with Chinese characteristics is highly suitable for China's basic national conditions and cultural background, highly suitable for its stage of development and social conditions, highly suitable for facing all kinds of tests and challenges at home and abroad, but is also conducive to creating China's miracles of development and governance," Hu wrote.