China's Xi Jinping supports 'democracy'... but not in the Western sense
When President Xi Jinping made at least two references to the concept in recent speeches, he wasn't talking about it in the Western sense
The two takeaway words were "consultative democracy" but the key message was gradual improvement, not radical reform.
So said analysts of comments made by President Xi Jinping in a keynote speech on Sunday to mark the 65th anniversary of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
In the speech, Xi highlighted the need to underpin what he called China's "consultative democracy" - or system of consultative conferences - as the country's unique way of fostering public consensus and reaching out to citizens on important matters.
The message was similar to one Xi delivered on September 5 to mark the 60th anniversary of the National People's Congress. In that address, Xi, who is also the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, called on NPC members to strengthen the national legislature's role under the party's absolute leadership.
He didn't spell out any fundamental political change to restructure one-party rule
Zhang said the two speeches highlighted Xi's desire to improve the present system rather than introduce radical change.