Critics See Hypocrisy in China’s Support for Baghdad Elections

China contributed US$1 million to help ensure the success of Iraq's upcoming election this Sunday. But at home, democracy is still something to which leaders have a serious aversion. Chinese officials argue that their country's history provides a tenuous foundation for democracy and that their people are too poor and uneducated to participate in the electoral process. Yet neighboring India has a far poorer and more widely illiterate population and stands as the world's largest democracy. Until China joins the ranks of other pluralistic world powers, no amount of foreign donations will earn China the place it so desires in the international community. – YaleGlobal