Global Times Editorial Says China is World's Largest Democracy, Baidu Bans Forums on "Democracy"

On August 27, 2015, the state sponsored Global Times published an editorial entitled "When All is Said and Done, Which is the Largest Democratic Country" (究竟谁是最大的民主国家), by Han Zhen (韩震), Communist Party Secretary of the Beijing Foreign Languages University and Director of the Chinese Culture Export Coordination Center (中国文化走出去协同创新中心). Some excerpts:

We must cast off Western linguistic manipulations and steer clear of the linguistic traps that they set. We must not only criticize the artificiality of Western democracy, we must also clarify the democratic characteristics of our own country. We must steadfastly seize the power to name what are democratic values, and fight for the power to control the discourse on democratic values.
. . . .
In the end, we must recognize that all kinds of democracy exist in the world, and that China's democracy is a true and effective form of democracy. From this we must state with firm conviction that it is China which is the largest democratic country, and that China remains a nation whose democratic governance is, relatively speaking, extensive and effective.

我们必须摆脱西方的话语操作，避免落入他们的话语陷阱之中。我们不仅要批评西方民主的虚妄性，而且一定要阐明我们国家的民主性质，要认真对待民主价值的命名权，争夺民主价值观的话语权。
. . . .
总之，我们必须认识到，这个世界存在着各式各样的民主尝试，中国的民主也是真实的、有效的民主形态。由此，我们必须理直气壮地说，中国才是最大的民主国家，中国还是民主治理比较广泛而又有效的国家。如果我们不做此认定，就等于承认自己是不民主的国家了。

This screenshot, taken on August 27, 2015, shows that Baidu had banned users from establishing a PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forum on the subject of “Democracy” (民主).