I think you're pretty much correct. It's more like the board of trustees of a "non-profit", since the board elects its own members, rather than having shareholders elect the board. The system works reasonably well. The president is selected for competence and there is a stable secession process.
I think it is foolish to argue that China should be more democratic. People today forget how dangerous democracies are that don't have systematic anti-jingoistic indoctrination. Read the history of how universal suffrage in Europe from 1880-1914 led to the rise of militarist-nationalist politicians ( Stephan Zweig's The World of Yesterday is a great book on this topic). Do we really want to see the Chinese equivalent of Bill O'Reilly and Ernst Lissauer? I'll take the 90 year old men, thank you very much ...
Oh yes. Understand me correctly, I am a believer in the appropriateness of the current system in China. I do agree with you, to pursue the establishment of a democratic system in China right now would be to follow a decidedly misguided course. The jingoists would take over in fairly short order.
Believe me, I feel more safe going to sleep every night knowing that China is run by boring, old, stodgy, conservative men who are anything but rash.
I think it is foolish to argue that China should be more democratic. People today forget how dangerous democracies are that don't have systematic anti-jingoistic indoctrination. Read the history of how universal suffrage in Europe from 1880-1914 led to the rise of militarist-nationalist politicians ( Stephan Zweig's The World of Yesterday is a great book on this topic). Do we really want to see the Chinese equivalent of Bill O'Reilly and Ernst Lissauer? I'll take the 90 year old men, thank you very much ...