A Russian expert delivers a speech at the Third International Forum on Democracy: The Shared Human Values held in Beijing on March 20, 2024. Photo: Qian Jiayin/GT

Western democracies are becoming more and more like procedures, while China's democratic path provides wisdom for global governance in today's world that faces many challenges, said scholars who attended a forum on democracy in Beijing on Wednesday.

The Third International Forum on Democracy: The Shared Human Values brought together nearly 300 politicians, scholars, and experts from around the world. Participants noted that we are witnessing the emergence of a new world order, one that is focused on cooperation among all countries for global governance and world peace, rather than one great power seeking hegemony. 

Professor Evandro Menezes De Carvalho of the Getulio Vargas Foundation at the Fluminense Federal University from Brazil told the Global Times that democracy is a very large concept that encompasses more than just procedures; it also includes material aspects. 

"Western democracies are becoming more and more like procedures, which are all about having the right to vote, but the people don't have any channels to intervene in the process or to express their opinions in an effective way. So Western democracy is becoming something that is deprived of content, with only the formality left behind, which is not sufficient to truly embody democracy," he said, adding that China's democratic path provides wisdom for global governance.

"Different countries, cultures, and civilizations should engage in a comprehensive dialogue on democracy to find universal principles of democracy," said Emanuel Yi Pastreich, president of the Asia Institute of the Republic of Korea. He praised China for bringing everyone together on this topic.

"Democracy has yielded concrete results in the improvement of the well-being of Chinese people," said Ignacio Villagran, president of the Latin American Association of China Studies from Argentina, as he could actually see and feel that more and more people enjoy the benefits of a modern life after having been in China for multiple times. 
 
Villagran emphasized that what other countries should learn from the Chinese experience is to keep grass-roots democracy at the core of policymaking. China is always able to listen to the people and not be misled by foreign democratic models. "That's part of what we try to learn when we study the Chinese model and want to put it into discussion with the local knowledge in Argentina as well as in Latin America," he said.