Democracy should not be one-size-fits-all model: IPU president

Democracy should not be a one-size-fits-all model but rather be tailored to local circumstances, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Tulia Ackson said to China Global Television Network (CGTN).

Ackson, who is also the Speaker of Tanzania's National Assembly, discussed the whole-process people's democracy in an interview with CGTN during a seminar at the end of August.

She hailed the success of China's unique approach to democracy and socialism, stressing the importance of not enforcing a singular model worldwide.

"I mean, like you rightly said, when you are people-centered, I think some of the things can develop from the people themselves. So it doesn't have to be that democracy --You have one size fits all. So, in a way what China has been able to achieve so far, we have seen that it has its own way of looking at democracy. It has its own way of approaching socialism," said Ackson.

Ackson lauded China's infrastructure progress and societal advancements as inspiring examples for developing nations, saying that democracy should deliver essential social services, foster personal growth, and drive national development.

"We are here. We have seen infrastructure development. We have seen how people have moved from one stage of development to the next. You would want that to every person of this world to have reached there. Now, because we are meeting here as part of the Global South, because of examples China is offering. So, considering democracy, we don't have to have one form of democracy to be conformed by everybody. We have to look at the local circumstances and see how people are responding to those policies. And if those policies are able to offer good social services, if those policies are able to offer personal development, if these policies are able to offer development of a nation together, I think this is what people should learn from," said Ackson.

Last month, the National People's Congress and the Inter-Parliamentary Union jointly organized the 2024 Interregional Seminar on the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals for Parliaments of Developing Countries.

Democracy should not be one-size-fits-all model: IPU president

China's total import and export volume of trade in sports services reached 52.89 billion yuan (about 7.45 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, said the State General Administration of Sport on Wednesday.

At a press conference in Beijing, Zhou Jinqiang, deputy director of the State General Administration of Sport, briefed on the achievements scored by China since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012.

China's sports sector has achieved high-quality development, with a widespread trend of fitness among the public, remarkable achievements in competitive sports, vibrant youth sports activities, and rapid growth in the sports industry, Zhou said, adding these advancements have contributed to building China into a leading sports nation.

"Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the total scale and added value of China's sports industry have significantly increased, with growth rates surpassing those of GDP during the same period. The proportion of the sports industry in the country's GDP has also continued to rise steadily," said Zhou.

"From 2012 to 2022, the annual average growth rate of the added value of the sports industry reached 15.4 percent, with its share of the domestic GDP increasing from 0.60 percent to 1.08 percent. In 2023, China's total import and export volume of trade in sports services stood at 52.89 billion yuan, marking a 178 percent increase compared to the previous year. At present, China has essentially forged a sports industry system that is led by competitive performances and fitness leisure, with the joint development of sports venue services, sports training, sports manufacturing, and sports media," said Zhou.

China's total trade in sports services reaches 52.89 bln yuan in 2023: official