Beijing's latest call for nationwide efforts to further promote rural democracy is a needed push for overall development in the countryside.

The General Offices of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly issued a decision on Sunday to advance openness and democracy in the management of village affairs.

As a substantial move to remodel the country's political landscape, in step with the fruitful reforms on the economic front, villager autonomy featuring democratic elections, decision-making, management and supervision has made tremendous headway in the vast rural areas.

Under the 1998 Organic Law of the Villagers' Committee, most rural communities have embraced the brand-new structure of self-governance.

Massive direct elections of village committees since have empowered farmers with democratic rights to defend their economic and political interests.

Grass-roots level elections have deeply impressed observers at home and abroad. And hopes are high over the bold experiment to usher in further changes in governance.

The call for transparency and democracy is not new on Beijing's part. The two essential ingredients of, and guarantees for, village autonomy have been high on the agenda.

The central authorities' latest call manifested a sober understanding of the reality that democratic reforms have only become changes in style in some rural areas and gotten in the way of pursuing rural prosperity.

As China marches forward to build an overall well-off society, the widening development gap between rural and urban areas has become one of the most challenging issues the country must deal with.

It is estimated that the income level of farmers has plunged to only one-fourth of that of their urban cousins, without taking into account the social welfare that the latter enjoys.

Admittedly, the Chinese Government has refreshed its efforts to address pressing agricultural, farmer and rural problems. Concrete measures ranging from aggressive agricultural tax cuts to unprecedented fiscal supports have been taken up to help numerous farmers.

However, if such preferential policies are to yield meaningful long-term results for farmers, a sound rural democratic system must be in place to allow the aid to take root.

Only when their right to know, decision-making rights, right to participate and supervision rights are ensured can village affairs, in particular financial affairs, be properly handled to the best of farmers' interests.

Besides traditional work like family planning and the distribution of relief funds and goods, villagers' committees now face more complex issues like compensation for land requisitions, a new rural collective healthcare and emerging economic co-operatives.

Complaints are already rife about compensation for land requisitions as the country has accelerated its urbanization drive in recent years.

Clearly, democratic management has a central role to play in preventing any infringement upon farmers' fundamental interests.

By stressing transparency, autonomy, supervision and accountability, the new official document provides a detailed guideline to revitalize rural democracy.

In a developing country like China where the rural population still accounts for the majority, it is an arduous task to develop and perfect socialist democracy in line with national conditions.

We hope the latest call by the central authorities will be a timely boost for the development of rural democracy and China's political landscape at large.

Source: China Daily