10月1日，国际关系与媒体研究所副所长亚瑟尔在巴基斯坦乌尔都语报刊《时代之声》发表《习近平谈治国理政》第四卷解读文章，全文如下：
China’s Socialism and Consultative Democracy
China is on track to become a "great modern socialist country" by the middle of the 21st century under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. Consultative democracy is a unique feature of the socialist democracy practiced in China. It is based on solid institutional, cultural, ideological and practical patterns. It has its roots in the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The National People's Congress is China's highest legislative body. Contrary to propaganda, the prevailing socialist democracy in China is not based on the individual, but the legislators of the National People's Congress and the political advisers of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are elected to follow the procedures set by the constitution.
Internal consultation is done and all decisions are made in the light of this consultation policy. China's 2022 government performance report, which was approved at the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress, revised 92 items, including revising economic stability and promoting scientific innovation and taking advantage of employment opportunities. In September 2022, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference met to study the regulations on the Communist Party of China's work regarding political consultation. These regulations were developed from the richly successful experiences of the Party's work on political consultation since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012. Moreover, these regulations serve as basic guidelines for improving political consultation. Contrary to criticisms of Chinese communism and deliberative democracy as a rubber stamp, the way the NPC and CPPCC work to promote consultation at all levels of the political system highlights the fact that the dream of a modern China will be realized through the political and public consultation under the leadership of President Xi Jinping.
Over the past few years, President Xi Jinping has repeatedly discussed the importance of consultative democracy and its people-centered approach. President Xi has always talked about participatory democracy through his speeches, lectures, written instructions and letters on various occasions. According to page 286 of the recently published book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China IV, President Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of participatory democracy while addressing a central conference on the Work of People's Congress on October 13, 2021. He said that we should stick to the approach based on people's welfare, and we should maintain the principle that all the power of the state belongs to the people.
President Xi called for improving democracy by creating more forms of democracy, expanding the means of democracy, and ensuring the equal right of people to participate in governance and development so as to promote a full-fledged people's democracy. He said at one point in his newly published book that the system of people's government is a basic political system, which is an important component of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He has also emphasized on maintaining and improving the institutional framework under which the people run the country. During his speech at the central conference on the Work of the People's Congress, which is mentioned in the book under discussion, he said that democracy is not an ornament for display, but a tool to solve people's problems. Whether a country is democratic or not depends on whether its people really own the country, and whether the people have the right to vote every part of the country, and more importantly, whether the exercise of power is truly subject to the people. If the people are asked for votes and then they are forgotten, if they hear great election slogans but have no voice when the elections are over, that is not true democracy. President Xi's remarks exposed a Western democratic system that has failed to live up to and meet the expectations of most developing nations today.
President Xi has also insisted that whether a country is democratic or not should be decided by community consensus and not by self-imposed principles. In his book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China IV on pages 298 and 299 he said that “I have presented five basic ideas behind the maintenance of people's democracy”. First of all, people's democracy is the soul of socialism. Without democracy, there will be no socialism, socialist modernization, or national renewal. Second, running the country by the people is the essence of socialist democracy. The development of socialist democracy aims to fully express the will of the people, protect their rights and interests, develop their creativity and provide an institutional framework to ensure that the people own the country. Third, the Chinese socialist path of political development is the right path, because it is in accordance with China's national conditions and secures the position of the people as the sovereign of the country. Fourth, China's socialist democracy takes two main forms. People exercise their rights through elections and voting, and people from all sectors of society are widely consulted to reach the possible consensus on major issues. The fifth point is that as we move towards a socialist democracy with organized institutions, standards and procedures, we can provide better institutional safeguards for the prosperity and long-term stability of our Party and the country.
