Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Editor's Note:

The Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong, which has lasted for more than two months, has sparked hot debate on whether it should be called a color revolution. How should the movement be viewed? How far is China from a color revolution? At a sub-session of the Global Times Annual Conference held over the weekend, two Chinese academics presented their different views on the issues.



Color revolution, a foreign phrase, has verbally entrapped us to some extent. The topic "How far China is from a color revolution" sounds depressing and shows a lack of confidence, which reminds me of the suspicions of some senior officials in the Communist Party of China (CPC) about the CPC's future before it finally took the power in 1949.

I believe that China will be all safe if we unswervingly stick to the socialist path with Chinese characteristics, which was launched by former leader Deng Xiaoping. The outside world can only exert minor influence on such a huge country as China.

In terms of color revolution that took place in several states in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans and elsewhere in the Middle East, our official comments are contradictory.

We consider them to be dreadful events but on diplomatic occasions China states that it respects the path that people in these countries pick for themselves.

Honestly, after hearing many professional research reports regarding color revolution, I think that revolutions are always at least somewhat rational since massive revolts break out when society is in dire straits and people live terrible lives.

It's incorrect to say that these revolutions are purely provoked by external forces as people in those countries are not fools. We cannot simply deny the validity of any color revolution but instead should carefully study each case.

The Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong can be called a color revolution due to the involvement of foreign factors.

But I have to point out that we used to infer US interference in Hong Kong affairs without solid evidence. Are we still making judgments based on conjecture? If so, that would be a big problem.

When we talk about color revolution in China's context, it should be somewhat different from that in the aforementioned regions. The phrase has become generalized and hence needs to be redefined.

I realize that all revolutions have color since they all involve political factors, and it's just the colors that differ. The revolution that the CPC has experienced is a red one while the reform and opening-up that advocates the market economy is a blue one. An intention to negate all the color revolutions will put the blue and red ones in the same bracket. In this sense our discourse system would collapse.

Is there already a color revolution happening in China if we use the phrase in a negative approach? The answer is affirmative, and moreover it is a serious one, which has become embedded down to the bone. It is a black revolution - corruption.

Continuing to indulge high-level corrupt officials such as Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Xu Caihou, former vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, would have turned the CPC from a red party into a black one and hence the black revolution is highly worth studying.

Nevertheless, this revolution is being defeated as President Xi Jinping is countering it by bringing down both "tigers" and "flies" in the anti-corruption campaign. Anti-corruption is actually backing socialism.

When this black revolution is suppressed, it won't be necessary to fear any color revolution since people will be better off with wealthy lives in a clean country.

Don't worry about intellectuals as they won't pose any threat to the country. What's truly scary is corrupt officials armed with guns.

To avoid subversive changes, China should care more about its internal affairs instead of external implications.

A core issue I want to emphasize is that China should first properly manage its domestic affairs such as the anti-corruption drive, reform and opening-up and the socialist path.

And under this circumstance, it's necessary to guard against external factors. We have to keep the focus right.

The article is an excerpt of a speech made by Wang Zhanyang, professor at the Central Institute of Socialism. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn