In an interview I conducted over Christmas, I was told, ‘Look at Taiwan; political debate is like a circus show: ministers are quarrelling, body fighting and throwing shoes. They do all sorts of ridiculous things! Where has their manner gone? And they are public figures – how humiliating!’ This gentleman went on to say: ‘So this is democracy? Why does China need that kind of democracy?’

I suppose he hasn’t noticed what political debates in other democracies are like: in Britain, for instance, where the prime minister is often forced into a corner and can hardly defend himself, and where the Speaker has to shout, ‘Order, order!’ constantly to calm down the laughs and noises. If he had, I suppose, the question mark would be even heavier. How could a government leader be embarrassed like that in public? This would never happen in China. Politicians never lose face; dignity is a serious thing, he would say.

I understand the background of such opinion. Political debates in China are always carried on in politeness, peacefulness and harmony. We see a scene like this on television almost every day: politicians sit in comfortable chairs, drink tea, listen to a minister, the premier, or president address an issue, and then clap hands and leave the hall. There is virtually no debate, no discussion, no questioning. Public decisions are always approved by the congress members with around 100 percent approval rate. It would be a great humiliation if the approval rate were lower than 80 percent. How harmonious (the Chinese like this word so much)!

Regarding reasons that there is no opposition and the danger of such a lack of criticism, people seem indifferent. Instead, some people, especially politicians in power, are interested in justifying the benefits of not having opposition. They give dozens of reasons: decisions are made in high efficiency, the economy continues to grow at high speed, people are getting richer, there is a unified voice and unified strength, it prevents distraction and conflict (just on surface, really).

In particular, the recent news that China has surpassed Germany to become the world’s leading exporter has been very encouraging. Also, some analysts predict that China is going to become the world’s second largest economy early this year, after America and before Japan. ‘All these economic merits are made without democracy! Does democracy deliver food?’

So, for ‘face’ as well as ‘food’ reasons, why does China need democracy anyway? Facing this question, I didn’t know how to argue with that gentleman. It seemed that, accidentally, I became the ‘silent majority’ in a situation that German scholar Noelle-Newmann called ‘the spiral of silence’.