Marking the 18th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on the pro-democracy movement at Tiananmen, at the Brown University in Rhode Island, US, the first Congress of the China Democratic Party convened on June 4. About 50 expatriate Chinese gathered to proclaim their commitment to establish the “Third Republic” in China.

The Third Republic is about transforming the current Second Republic led by the Chinese communists and reclaiming some of the original democratic aspirations of the First Republic established by the nationalist leader Sun Yatsen.

In a declaration, the CDP leaders said, “We shall pursue the spirit and tradition of the leaders of the Revolution of 1911 and their creation of Asia’s First Republic... we solemnly declare our aspiration to build a Third Republic based on the principles of freedom, equality, human rights and constitutional democracy.”

Signaling the rising tension between Beijing and the Democrat controlled US congress, the speaker of the house of representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was there to bless the CDP’s first party congress.

But more consequential than the CDP convention is the fascinating debate within the CCP itself on the relationship between Chinese socialism and liberal democracy.

Social Democracy

Earlier this year, Xie Tao, a former vice president of the Renmin University published a piece that challenged the party orthodoxy on democracy. Xie described 20th-century history as a contest between capitalism, communism and Swedish-style democratic socialism, with its dual stress on social equality and political rights. He argued that the democratic socialism had won, outlasting communism and transforming capitalism, and urged China to rejuvenate itself through democratic reform.

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