布阿爾克：我在巴西提“中國民主模式”，遭到很多反對

過去10餘年間，巴西陷入了發展困境，過去依賴的出口農產品等初級資源經濟模式難以帶動巴西經濟更上一層樓。

對此，南方中心董事，巴西前教育部長、前參議員克里斯托萬·布阿爾克（Cristovam Buarque）在接受觀察者網專訪時認為，教育是巴西實現進一步發展的基石。他還就教育如何賦能發展，中巴如何進一步拓展雙邊與金磚合作，各國如何在新的多極世界中保持和睦、促進合作表達了自己的看法。

觀察者網記者採訪布阿爾克

以下為採訪實錄：

【採訪、翻譯/觀察者網 李澤西】

中國成功教育出愛國的人民

觀察者網：您一直主張用教育解決巴西中長期的各項問題。可否簡單介紹一下您的設想？

**布阿爾克：**很高興接受這次採訪，回答這個問題。很少有人向我提出類似的問題，但我認為教育是非常重要的。數十年來，我們強調的是經濟，是生產，但一直忘了教育才是進步的核心推動力。我們需要教育，不僅是專業教育，還包括全民基礎教育。教育可以提高經濟效率，同等質量的教育水平也能幫助社會。教育是經濟的基礎，也是社會的基礎。我們需要教育來提高產量，並更均勻地分配財富。這是我在巴西政治生涯中一直強調的問題。

觀察者網：可否介紹一下巴西當前教育面臨的難題？

**布阿爾克：**巴西教育現在有兩個主要的目標：

爭取在國際學生能力評估（PISA）中名列前茅（據最近公佈的2018年數據，中國北京、上海、江蘇和浙江位列全球第一，巴西則落後於世界平均水平），以及實現教育平等，讓貧困兒童在學校與富裕兒童享有同等質量的教育。

2018年，PISA測試平均成績地圖，巴西名次較為靠後

為了實現這兩個目標，我們面臨的挑戰是如何將6000個以市為單位的教育系統，轉變為一個國家系統。

觀察者網：您認為您的設想也適用於其他國家嗎？教育可以解決哪些當下的重大問題？

**布阿爾克：**我在巴西強調的，對全世界任何國家都適用。不少過去非常落後的國家通過教育發展了起來：芬蘭是一個例子，韓國是另一個例子。中國也通過教育實現了高質量經濟發展，目前只有部分地區尚未完全發展起來。像中國和巴西這樣的大國還無法“一步登天”。對於巴西來説，我們有不少學習的榜樣，中國就是一個。

觀察者網：如何向中國學習？

**布阿爾克：**不同於巴西以市為單位的教育系統，中國基礎教育系統是在國家層面構建的。中國兒童接受的教育使他成為一箇中國人，而巴西兒童接受的教育使他成為某某市的市民，乃至於徹底個人主義的人。

中國兒童的成長過程中充滿了對中國歷史和對祖先的尊重，並形成了社會風氣，而巴西的系統則非常注重個人和當下。我們也應該向中國學習，讓父母和祖父母更多參與對孩子的照顧和教育中，巴西的教育目前完全由教師和學校負責。

巴西與中國都要逐步適應新的多極世界

觀察者網：再説回兩國關係。中國和巴西是重要的貿易伙伴；巴西的農產品和原材料出口，與中國的機械和電氣設備出口相輔相成。在盧拉總統今年訪華期間，兩國還簽署了一些關於能源、碳信用、5G網絡、融資和去美元化的合作協議。您認為未來合作中最有前景的領域是什麼？雙方合作對巴西實現經濟多元化及產業升級有多大意義？

**布阿爾克：**對巴西來説，中國是其主要的貿易伙伴，比美國和阿根廷重要得多。但是，我們一直只做經濟貿易，需要有更多方面的來往。例如，我們的大學之間可以合作，建立留學項目，讓巴西學生和中國學生一起學習，讓巴西教師和中國教師一起授課，把中國人迎來巴西，把巴西人派往中國。多年來，巴西學生一直在赴美歐學習，其中有大額獎學金，我們應該為巴西和中國之間的留學生設立更多的獎學金。

我們還需要科學機構之間的合作。巴西在健康領域非常突出，應該與中國的科學家緊密合作。還有藝術文化方面，歡迎更多的中國藝術家來巴西，同時把我們的藝術家派到中國。我們還需要翻譯更多中國作家的書，並將巴西作家的作品翻譯成中文。

可以看出，我們有十分廣闊的合作前景，不應該安於只做貿易。在貿易方面，我們已經有很良好的合作了，現在應該推進更多方面的合作。

最後，我認為巴西應該學習中國的政治模式。我不單是指國家機構層面的政治，還包括政府的運行。中國精通如何落實一個項目，巴西會創立項目，但在執行期間往往遇到很大的困難，中國可以指導我們如何更好執行項目。我們有很多東西可以向中國學習，我認為兩國合作對中國也有好處。

布阿爾克資料圖（圖源：巴西參議院）

觀察者網：與此同時，巴西與美國長期以來有着防務合作協議。在您看來，巴西應該如何平衡與中美的關係？

**布阿爾克：**這是未來我們需要做的，我們過去是在一個單極、只有一個超級大國的世界裏，有的主要是雙邊關係經驗。

今天，令人高興的是，美國不再是國際地緣政治的中心，中國和歐洲都出現在國際舞台中心。我們必須學會如何發展其他類型的關係。

到目前為止，國際政治、對外政策都是圍繞單極世界而制定的。現在我們必須學會先看世界、再看國家。我過去曾經説，外交誕生時，世界是由一羣國家所組成的。今天，我認為外交已發展成每個國家都是世界的一個組成部分。這需要外交官、政治家在處理與其他國家的合作和關係時採用不同的思維模式。巴西和中國可以一起學習，共同提高。

觀察者網：中國和巴西都是金磚國家的重要成員。雙方如何在這個框架下努力加強合作？作為兩個都專注於促進發展中國家利益的機構，金磚國家和南方中心的工作應該如何協調與互聯？

**布阿爾克：**我在董事會提議，南方中心應該邀請金磚國家新開發銀行的新行長、巴西政治家迪爾瑪·羅塞夫（Dilma Rousseff）來與我們會面，我們應該參與金磚國家新開發銀行的工作。南方中心有世界南方的專業知識；我們可以為金磚國家新開發銀行提供這些信息。這對於中國和巴西的合作來説也是非常良好的局面：金磚國家新開發銀行的行長是巴西人，而它的總部又坐落在中國的上海。

4月13日，新開發銀行行長迪爾瑪·羅塞夫就任（圖源：AFP）

讓我們利用好這一合作的機緣，加強金磚國家新開發銀行的作用。當然，我認為我們要做更多的努力，比如應該吸引更多國家加入金磚。更多國家應該參與新開發銀行的工作，因為它對推動多極世界的新地緣政治格局非常重要，這將改變世界的歷程。

觀察者網：俄烏衝突呢？對巴西產生了什麼影響？巴西人怎麼看中國的十二點和平計劃以及調停衝突提議？

**布阿爾克：**對此，我與盧拉政府立場有點不同，我認為巴西不應該參與這場衝突。

有兩種參與衝突的方式：第一種是軍事上的參與，而盧拉總統明確表示，巴西不會在軍事上參與這場衝突。這很好。

但我還認為，巴西甚至不應該參與和談。俄羅斯和烏克蘭兩國的文學、宗教、語言和歷史如此相似，以至於我認為到某個時刻，俄羅斯內部的力量會向政府施壓，比如施壓普京先生或其他人，而烏克蘭內部勢力也會施壓烏克蘭，這兩股內部勢力將自動推動雙方和談。當然，如果一些國家和地區，特別是中國和歐洲，可以在此發揮作用，那也是可以的。

2019年12月，普京與澤連斯基最近的一次會面（圖源：AP）

就盧拉而言，我一直認為他在全球舞台上可以扮演其他角色。盧拉應該發表一個與俄烏衝突無關的地球聲明，提出如何實現其他三個方面的和平：社會和平，與貧困作鬥爭；生態和平，為可持續發展而戰；移民和平，想辦法避免數百萬人被迫從本國逃往另一個國家，且經常找不到可落腳的新家。

我認為，盧拉是世界上最適合發佈這樣的全球性聲明的人。你們或許會問，為什麼不是由中國發布？中國是如此的特別，如此強大，以至於也許中國不是最適當的發起方。中國有很強大的實力，而巴西有可觀的軟實力，要實現這三方面的和平，更需要軟實力。

巴西內政需要借鑑“中庸之道”

觀察者網：巴西經濟在2010年代經歷了相當困難的十年，導致國內民眾不滿情緒升温。您認為這背後的原因是什麼，巴西如何才能克服挑戰？

**布阿爾克：**我認為，巴西這麼富裕的國家出現這種情況的主要原因是缺乏教育，幾個世紀以來許多巴西人民都沒有受過教育。教育的缺乏導致國家分裂、社會分裂，巴西幾乎有一個族羣隔離制度——這有別於南非那樣的種族隔離制度，因為巴西大多數人是混血，雖有一些偏見和種族主義，但沒有種族隔離。

巴西有的是社會族羣隔離，這是巴西分裂的主要原因，根據誰有錢、誰沒錢分割社會，而有沒有錢取決於有沒有教育。除此之外，缺乏教育也導致政治家們找不出巴西的前進出路。

當然，巴西還需要更好的法律，打擊腐敗。巴西需要長遠性思維，而我們一向較為短視，這是一個我們必須克服的問題。

觀察者網：如何克服？

**布阿爾克：**我們有兩個策略。長期戰略是教育；短期內，我們應該搭建溝通的橋樑。盧拉一直強調，要想結束俄烏衝突，我們只需要把普京和澤倫斯基放在同一張談判桌上。我認為，盧拉應該與反對派做同樣的事情，甚至與自己討厭的人一起溝通、交談，雙方找出一箇中間的方案，不完全是盧拉和他的勞工黨的方案。

當然，我也希望博索納羅等人永遠不會迴歸政府，但我們必須溝通。克服巴西所面臨問題的方式是不停的溝通，保持謙虛的態度，畢竟沒人有完美的方案。所以，我們應該進行類似盧拉提議普京和澤倫斯基那樣開展談判和溝通。

巴西前總統博索納羅資料圖（圖源：路透社）

觀察者網：這聽起來有點類似於中國傳統哲學的一些理念，即努力求同存異，走中庸之道，努力包容各方的觀點。

**布阿克：**是的，中國對這種對話有着上千年的歷史經驗。也許我們可以從孔子那裏尋找答案，對話溝通、中庸之道是中國的傳統。巴西需要學習中國。

觀察者網：如何實現您提到的三個方面和平？我們只需對話，還是也需要其他方面的努力？

**布阿爾克：**確實需要其他方面的努力，但主要還是在聯合國的演講，以及各種場合的對話。這三方面中，社會和平和移民和平是密切相關的。敍利亞難民危機源於內戰，但全球大多數移民源於貧窮和社會因素，例如中美洲。如果我們解決了貧困問題，我們就能解決移民問題，這兩個是相輔相成的。

5月，大量移民出現在美墨邊境（圖源：路透社）

至於生態和平，我們還需要某種方式的思想革命，結束以國民生產總值來衡量文明的做法。不，文明遠不止於生產，我們需要做的包括更敬畏自然、尊重生態，發展更可持續性的社會。生態和平比其他兩個和平更難，對人類來説也更緊迫。社會和移民和平對窮人和移民來説更加緊迫，但是生態對全人類整體來説更重要。

觀察者網：雖然中國和巴西之間的關係基本沒有受巴西國內政治太大的影響，但中國和其他國家都對2022年巴西大選後發生的暴力感到擔憂。鑑於巴西的經濟狀況持續低迷，國際社會是否應該關注巴西的政治穩定？

**布阿爾克：**任何國家都應該對此有點擔心，巴西應尤為擔心，但局勢並不危險。我們必須保持密切關注，畢竟民主在哪裏都是非常脆弱的，在巴西或許更為如此。但無論如何，我們當下沒有危險。巴西的民主是穩定的，至少在未來很多年內將保持如此。

觀察者網：國際上最近關於“脱鈎”和“對抗”的討論越來越多，關鍵似乎在於美國希望強推西方民主制度，而中國則認為發展才是最重要的民主權利。您如何看待雙方的説法？

**布阿爾克：**非常感謝這個問題，我想就此更深入的討論。從一個富國、強國的角度來看，美國是一個成功的案例，但從可持續性和共同富裕的角度來看，美國並非如此。他們有很多的歧視和排斥現象，特別在種族方面：黑人生活水平比白人差，不過美國現在也有很多窮困的白人。

美國過去實現了短期的成功，但是他們不應該、也沒有理由成為大家永遠效仿的榜樣。這是一種傲慢的態度，也是一個錯誤，一個試圖強加給他國民主制度和美國生活方式的錯誤。美國的生活方式不能成為全人類未來的生活方式，我們需要其他的生活方式。

美國舊金山街頭（圖源：彼得·喬治·彼得森基金會）

民主是美國等國成功的重要因素，但是每個國家都必須尋找自己實現民主的方式。我這樣説，是因為民主本質上是一種與人民一起治理國家的制度。這並不要求有國會，有多黨制，有選舉，將選民視為國王，不一定。

我在巴西受到了很多批評，因為我寫了一本書，提出了“中國民主模式”。有些巴西人不樂意聽到我這麼説，許多朋友也反對我的這種表述。但我認為中國有一種民主的模式，雖然這可能不是巴西應該採用的方式，巴西必須找到一個新的模式，但不一定是美國、法國或日本的模式，何況他們之間的民主模式也大相庭徑。美國必須停止認為它採用的民主制度是唯一的模式，世界上還有其他的民主制度，而中國正在努力尋找具有自己特色的制度。

英文原文：

Guancha: In politics, you have consistently advocated for the importance of education in solving Brazil’s medium and long term problems. Could you briefly describe your proposal?

Cristovam Buarque: First of all, it’s a pleasure to be here, and wonderful to receive this question. Many times, they don’t put this question to me. But I think it’s very important to talk about that.

For many years, decades, we have been saying to the people, to the world, that the most important thing is the economy, is production. We have been forgetting that education is the main vector of progress. We need education, and not just professional education, but basic education, the education of the whole population. We need that, first of all to give efficiency to the economic process, and we need schools to have the same quality of education, in order to achieve a better social function. Education is basic to the economy and is basic to society. We need education to produce more and we need education to distribute production better. This is what I have been discussing in Brazil during my whole career as a politician.

Guancha: Could you describe the specific challenges facing Brazilian education system?

Cristovam Buarque: The specific challenge facing Brazilian educational system is to lead with two targets: to be among the betters in the PISA international evaluation, and to have educational social equality, such that poor children experience the same quality of schooling as rich children. To fulfill these two purposes, the challenge is to move from 6000 municipal systems to one national system.

Guancha: Do you think the same applies broadly to other countries as well? What are some key challenges that education can solve?

Cristovam Buarque: I think that what I’ve been saying to Brazil, it’s worthwhile to the whole world, to any country, but many other countries have done that already. We have examples of countries that were very backwards some years ago, that grew up thanks to education: Finland is an example, South Korea is another example. Some cities in China are doing that, not the whole country yet, but China is doing what I recommend to Brazil, to start revolution in education per city. It’s impossible to make the revolution spread through a country as big as China and Brazil. I think that we have examples that we should follow, and China is one.

Guancha: How should Brazil learn from China’s educational system?

Cristovam Buarque: We can learn from China’s national framework to basic education, which is different from our municipal system. A Chinese child is educated as Chinese, while a Brazilian child is educated as a municipal and individualistic person. The respect for Chinese history and heritage are present in the education of Chinese children and forms the Chinese ethos, while the Brazilian system is very much oriented to the individual and the present. We should also learn from the involvement of parents and greatparents in the care and education of Chinese children. Brazil leaves the education under total responsibility of teachers and school.

Guancha: China and Brazil are important trading partners, with Brazil’s export of agricultural and raw materials complementing China’s exports of machinery and electrical equipment. During president Lula’s recent visit to China, the two countries also signed a number of agreements on cooperation in energy, carbon credits, 5G network, financing and de-dollarization. What do you think is the most fruitful area for future cooperation? And how significant would cooperation between the two be for Brazil’s efforts to diversify its economy beyond commodities?

Cristovam Buarque: Brazil and China are today very tied. At least from the Brazilian point of view, China is the main partner in trading, a lot more important than, for example, United States and Argentina, the other two great partners. But we have been just trading in goods. We need more. For example, we need cooperation between our universities. We have to have programs, put together our students and Chinese students, our teachers and China’s teachers, to bring Chinese to Brazil, to send Brazilians to China. For many years, we have been looking to United States and Europe to study with a lot of scholarship. Let’s have more scholarships between Brazil and China.

We need cooperation also between scientific institutions. We have a very important group, for example, in the health system, health technology. We need to work closely with the Chinese scientists. We need cooperation in arts and culture, which would be very good. We need to bring to Brazil more artists from China and to send to China our artists. We need to translate more books from Chinese authors and to translate into Mandarin the work of Brazilian authors.

We have a world ahead to cooperate. Let’s not stop and do trade only. On trade, we already have good cooperation. Now we need to improve that to other sectors.

And finally, I think that we have to learn from China, the way China does politics. I’m not talking politics in this sense of congress. I’m talking also in the sense of government: China knows how to do projects. Brazil knows how to make the project but have terrible difficulty in executing the project. China can teach us how to execute our project. We have a lot to learn with China. And I think the cooperation would be good also to China.

Guancha: At the same time, Brazil has long standing security agreements with the US. In your opinion, how should Brazil balance relations with China and the US, which are both important partners to Brazil?

Cristovam Buarque: That would be an exercise in the future. We have to learn how to cooperate in this world, because we had the experience of mainly bilateral relationships, and a world with one pole, with one superpower.

Today, happily, the United States is no more the center of international geopolitics, we have China, we have Europe. We have to learn how to develop other kinds of relations. But I have been saying something more than that. I think that even China has to learn.

Up to now, international diplomacy, politics and external policy were made regarding one country in the whole world. I think that now we have to learn to see the world before the country. I used to say that diplomacy was made to the time when the world was a group of countries. Today, I say that each country is a piece of the world. This require a different mindset for the diplomats, for politicians engaged in cooperation and relations with the other countries. Brazil and China can learn together and teach one another.

Guancha: China and Brazil are both key members of BRICS. How can both work to increase cooperation under this framework? Also, as two institutions both focused on promoting the interests of developing countries, how should the work of BRICS and the South Centre intersect and interact?

Cristovam Buarque: I proposed yesterday that the South Centre should invite the new president of BRICS bank, our Brazilian politician Dilma Rousseff, to come to South Centre to meet with us. We have to be inside the BRICS bank. I said that we have expertise, we have knowledge of the South. Let’s make that available to the BRICS bank. Regarding China and Brazil, we have something very good: we have a Brazilian president of BRICS bank, and the BRICS bank is in Shanghai, China.

Let’s put together this cooperation, this coincidence, and let’s use the BRICS bank more. Personally, I think that we have to discuss a lot before that. I think that we should at least bring some other countries to BRICS and to BRICS bank. I think there are other countries that should be part of this experience, an experience that would change the world because it would be very important to this idea of a new geopolitics of multiple poles. BRICS is very important to this.

Guancha: What has been the effect of the war in Ukraine or Brazil, and how has China’s 12 point peace plan and proposed conflict mediation been received in Brazil?

Cristovam Buarque: This is something on which I have a different position as the Brazilian government today. I think that Brazil should not be involved in this conflict. There’s two ways to be involved. In the first way, Brazil is not: President Lula is quite clear, he’s not involved as a party militarily with one of the countries. This is OK.

But I have another position, no involvement even in the peace talks, because I think that Russia and Ukraine, they look so much like each other, in terms of literature, religion, language, history, that I think they will find that, in a certain moment, the internal forces in Russia and Ukraine will pressure their governments to come together and find the peace. Sure, if some countries, especially China and Europe, can help that, it would be okay.

But in the case of Lula, I have been saying that he has another role in the world. Lula should put a planetary statement to propose ways to come to three other peaces, different from the war between Russia and Ukraine: social peace, fighting against poverty; ecological peace, fighting for sustainable development; and migration peace, find a way to avoid millions of the people being forced to move from their country to another country, and some or most of the time not able find a new home. First of all, migrants might not arrive at the new country. Second, they might arrive but can not come in, because at the border they are stopped. And third, they will enter the new country, but will not be accepted legally.

Lula, I think, is the best man the world to produce a planetary statement. You might ask, but why not China? China is so special and so great and so big that perhaps it will not have this voice into the world: China is a hard power, Brazil can be a soft power, and we need soft power. For these 3 peaces, we need more soft power than hard power.

Guancha: Brazil’s economy has experienced a rather difficult decade in the 2010s, which has Led to rising domestic discontent and trouble. What do you think are the reasons behind this? How come Brazil overcome these challenges?

Cristovam Buarque: I think that the main reason why we’re in this situation with so rich a country is the lack of education, centuries without education for our people. The lack of education makes a country divided, socially divided. The main reason for the division of Brazil, we have to say Brazil is almost an Apartheid system, not racial apartheid as in South Africa since most of us are mixed; while there is some prejudice, some racism, but not racial apartheid.

But we do have a social apartheid, based on who has money, and who has no money. And having or not having money depends on having or not having education. And beside that, the lack of education is behind the fact that the politicians do not find a way to Brazil. We need education.

Beside that, we need better laws, to avoid corruption, and we need long term planning to our purpose. Brazil is very short term oriented. And this is a problem that we have to overcome.

Guancha: How would you overcome?

Cristovam Buarque: We have two strategies. In the long term, improved education is key. And in the short term, let’s get together. Lula has been saying that to finish the Ukrainian war, we just have to put Putin and Zelensky on the same table. I think that in Brazil, he should do the same with the opposition, even the bad guys, sitting together to discuss, to talk and to find a middle way.

It will not to be Lula’s way, Lula’s party’s way, and I hope we will never have the Bolsonaro people in government again, but we have to talk. The answer to your question is talk, talk, talk, with modesty. No one knows exactly what to do. So, let’s discuss. Let’s having conversations, as Lula proposed between Putin and Zelensky.

Guancha: This sounds kind of similar to what China has been proposing based on traditional Chinese philosophy, of trying to find common ground and trying to come together, include all views and not just holding some as superior to others.

Cristovam Buarque: Yes, China has a long history of this kind of conversation to find a way forwards. Perhaps we can go back to Confucius to find that. It is a tradition in China to talk, to discuss, to find the middle way. We need to learn from the Chinese.

Guancha: Going back to the three peaces you talked about, is the way to achieve that just through dialogue or does it also require acquire something else?

Cristovam Buarque: Other things, but especially speeches at the United Nations, conversation everywhere. Now, two of these three peaces, they come together. Social peace will bring migration peace. If you look to Syria, for example, the migration was because of the civil war, but usually in the world, migration is due to poverty, i.e. social reasons. This is the case of central America, for example. Then these two peaces, they come together: if we solve poverty, we solve migration.

For ecological peace, we need more than that. We need, in a certain way, a cultural revolution, a mind revolution, to abolish the way that gross national product is used as the indicator of civilization. No, civilization is a lot more than production. And one of the things we need a lot more of is the respect of nature, respect of ecology. It means we need sustainability. This peace is more difficult than the other two, and more urgent for humankind; social and migration peace is more urgent to poor people, to migrants, but ecology peace is more important than any other to humankind.

Guancha: While relations between China and Brazil have mostly been unaffected by Brazil’s internal politics, China and other countries have been concerned by post-election violence after the closely fought 2022 Brazil general election. Given the continued poor state of Brazil’s economy right now, should the international community be concerned about Brazil’s stability?

Cristovam Buarque: We have to be concerned a bit everywhere in the world, and especially in Brazil we have concerns, democracy is very fragile everywhere, in Brazil perhaps more than in a lot of other countries, but there’s no danger. Brazilian democracy is stable, at least for many years ahead.

Guancha: Recently there has been increased talk of decoupling and confrontation on the global stage. Key to this seems to be America’s desire to see all countries adopt a more western model of democracy, of governance, while China believes that development should be or is the most important democratic right of the people. So what do you think of these narratives?

Cristovam Buarque: Thank you very much for this question. I’d like to talk a lot more about that. America is a case of success from the point of view of a rich country, a powerful country, but it’s not from the point of view of sustainability, it’s not from the point of view of inclusion of the whole population to its benefits. They have a lot of exclusion, especially of a racial orientation: black people have it worse than white people, although there are a lot of poorer white people today. It’s a success from the point of view of the nation in the short term, in the past, but they have no reason to be an example to be followed forever by everyone. This is an arrogance, this is an error, a mistake to try to impose not only democracy but also the American way of life. The American way of life cannot be the way of life of humankind in the future, we need other ways to live instead.

In the case of democracy, it was a very important factor to America, to some other countries, but each country has to look for their way of democracy. I put it like that, because democracy in its essence is the way to govern with the people. It’s not with the congress, with multiple parties, with elections, with electors as the king, not necessarily.

This is why I was criticized a lot in Brazil, because I wrote a book where I put the idea of the Chinese mode of democracy. People didn’t like that in Brazil, many friends of mine were unhappy with this expression that I put there. But I use it, and I would say China has a mode of democracy, which is probably not the way Brazil would use. Brazil has to find a new way, but not necessarily the American or the French or the Japanese way, and they all have different modes of democracy anyways. America has to stop the idea that its democracy is the only way possible. We have other ways of democracy in the world, and China, I think, is trying to find its way.

本文系觀察者網獨家稿件，文章內容純屬作者個人觀點，不代表平台觀點，未經授權，不得轉載，否則將追究法律責任。關注觀察者網微信guanchacn，每日閲讀趣味文章。