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However, China has just experienced a month of strikes by taxi drivers in at least 14 cities and counties. Unlike in the past, the majority of local authorities have basically handled these incidents – which local media have termed “street democracy” – through dialogue and peaceful measures that have earned praise from the media. Still, the question remains, how far can this “democracy” go?
The wave of strikes began on Nov. 3 with an incident in the city of Chongqing in Sichuan province, involving 9,000 taxi drivers. They were protesting over various issues, including shortages of the liquefied natural gas they use for fuel, low fares, too many fines and too many illegal taxis, including cars, small vans, motorcycles and scooters. In fact, these issues are very common throughout the country.
Surprisingly, despite brief resistance from the city government at the very beginning, accompanied by some protesters’ violent acts, city authorities soon shifted their attitude and displayed great restraint concerning the protests.
Bo Xilai, secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, held a rare meeting with representatives of the strikers, listened to their complaints and promised to solve what problems the government could. This three-hour meeting was broadcast on TV and via many other major news channels, drawing widespread attention from Chinese society. Furthermore, Bo agreed to allow a professional labor union in the local taxi industry.
This strike in Chongqing set the example for the subsequent strikes that followed over similar complaints, against high management fees charged to drivers by the taxi companies and the serious impact of competition by illegal taxis. On the other hand, the local authorities of Chongqing also acted as a model for the other local governments that later encountered similar strikes.
According to Western media, Bo’s approach of listening to taxi drivers’ opinions and comforting them was an attempt to avoid potentially bigger riots when the global financial crisis starts to influence the economic life of the Chinese citizenry. No matter what the real intentions were behind the actions of the local Chinese government, the ensuing strikes in other cities and counties were generally treated with restraint and efforts at reconciliation. Meanwhile, many believe that this positive trend will encourage similar practices in the future.
The domino effect created by the Chongqing strike opened the way for at least 13 other strikes in November, most of them involving several hundred drivers.
Beneath the strikers’ appeals deeper factors were evident, including a denouncement of the monopolization of franchise rights within the taxi industry and the lack of a social feedback mechanism, as pointed out by some Chinese media. Further, many local authorities were believed to share the interests of the taxi companies and those of drivers of illegal taxis as well. That explains why the government’s years of efforts combating illegal taxi drivers have had little effect, one striker said. Another protestor said there had been no option but to strike.
In other words, the authorities have often chosen to side with those that support their vested interests rather than serving as objective mediators between taxi drivers and their companies or between legal and illegal taxi drivers.
Moreover, as long as the government fails to standardize taxi company management and resolve the issue of monopolies in certain areas, such strikes may occur again and again, critics warn.
Facing this series of strikes has required authorities to adjust and learn how to react and deal more wisely with complaints. Chinese leaders have been uncertain how to react when faced with the frequent “mass incidents” that have occurred with increasing frequency in recent years.
Judging from this latest trend, it appears that the government is ready to tolerate more public expressions of discontent, and even to take steps to resolve the underlying social issues that cause such outbreaks. China has already gone far down the path of transition away from a typical communist society toward what seems to be a “democracy with Chinese characteristics.”
