The Guardian: China's Communist party has come of age – the west should wake up

[Blablurn]

The Chinese Communist party congress displayed all the qualities beloved by Leninist institutions over the ages, of deep secrecy mixed with stern pageantry, leveraged in the service of reinforcing their leaders' inviolate right to rule.

Its closure on Wednesday in Beijing's Great Hall of the People also highlighted a familiar ritual, the unveiling of the membership and the ranking of the new leadership team, known as the politburo standing committee.

Click to shrink...

Xi Jinping embodies the party's ascendancy, and may well stay on beyond his second five-year term, which finishes in 2022. The congress has already consecrated his reign by putting his "socialist thought" into the party constitution, placing him alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping in the pantheon of revolutionary leaders.

Xi, however, is not the story. The real star of the congress is the party itself.

It once sought a lower profile, both at home and abroad. In the 1980s, Deng dictated that China should "bide its time and hide its light" in foreign policy while the country gained strength. A similar credo prevailed with the Communist party.

Click to shrink...

These statements are remarkable from a party which has long tried to keep a low profile. It has always extolled the value of its system, but has never explicitly suggested it was something that could be exported around the world.

Such confidence could easily be interpreted as hubris and it may well prove to be so, but there are a number of reasons why China is more powerful and more confident than it perhaps has been for two centuries.

Click to shrink...

The first is that the leadership, at least in public, believes it has stabilised the economy after a brief crisis two years ago, and returned the country to healthy growth. After also getting through the global financial crisis intact 10 years ago, the self-belief is enormous.

The second is instability, self-doubt and introspection in the west, especially in the US but also in the UK and Europe. China, by contrast, is firing on all cylinders, both politically and economically.

Click to shrink...

Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-age-the-west-should-wake-up?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

[Deleted member 9838]

A democracy doesn't automatically make a country good. It's the institutions behind it. A country can be a democracy and be awful domestically and for the international community.

 

[Tsuyu]

Anything that challenge American hegemony should be seek out and destroyed.

Can't have China taking our jobs anymore.

 

[Taki]

Anything that challenge American hegemony should be seek out and destroyed.

Can't have China taking our jobs anymore.

Click to shrink...

See I can't tell if people are kidding sometimes or not.

 

[Typhon]

Anything that challenge American hegemony should be seek out and destroyed.

Can't have China taking our jobs anymore.

Click to shrink...

US may not be an ideal choice for "world leader" especially considering who is charge, but compared to China I would call it the lesser evil.

 

[Regulus Tera]

Anything that challenge American hegemony should be seek out and destroyed.

Can't have China taking our jobs anymore.

Click to shrink...

Empires gotta devour other empires to survive I guess

 

[Dingens]

A democracy doesn't automatically make a country good. It's the institutions behind it. A country can be a democracy and be awful domestically and for the international community.

Click to shrink...

I'm sure we're all painfully aware of this by now...

 

[Xe4]

A democracy doesn't automatically make a country good. It's the institutions behind it. A country can be a democracy and be awful domestically and for the international community.

Click to shrink...

I disagree. Democratic rights are something that every person on Earth should enjoy. There's a reason why places like the UN have the right to vote in their charters and why even countries like North Korea pretend to be democratic.

A system like China's cannot exist without simultaneously denying it's own citizens a voice and human rights. Often it achieves it's dominance in government by forcefully putting down dissent, to the harm of many.

That's not to say democracies are perfect. Of course they're not. But the only way that you can possibly ever give everyone basic human rights is with a democratIic government of some sort.

Edit: Done.

Edit 2: Unless I was mistaken and you actually meant being a democracy didn't guarantee human rights but everywhere should still strive to be democratic. In which case I'd agree. : )

 

[Deleted member 9838]

I disagree. Democratic rights are something that every person on Earth should enjoy. There's a reason why places like the UN have the right to vote in their charters and why even countries like North Korea pretend to be democratic.

A system like China's cannot exist without simultaneously denying it's own citizens a voice and human rights. Often it achieves it's dominance in government by forcefully putting down dissent, to the harm of many.

That's not to say democracies are perfect. Of course they're not. But the only way that you can possibly ever give everyone basic human rights is with a democratIic government of some sort.

Edit: Done.

Edit 2: Unless I was mistaken and you actually meant being a democracy didn't guarantee human rights but everywhere should still strive to be democratic. In which case I'd agree. : )

Click to shrink...

I do agree that democratic rights are something everyone should enjoy. My point is that just because a country has these rights that the state itself is good for it's people or for the world. Possesing this quality of democracy doesn't automatically make a country better. There are othet factors at play. China is a repressive government but in many ways the state has managed to be quite good at managing the amount of people there in China and delivering a relativly good standard of living. China also is contributing towards international cooperation on climate change. My point is that just because a country lacks certain democratic rights that it's a bad country. Democracy is only as good as the other decisions being made by the state. Is a democratic country good if they elect someone who openly advocates using nukes? Maybe those democratic rights can be equally as bad as they can be good.

 

[plsburydoughboy]

Interesting analysis. I have serious doubts China has as much far reaching control over the things it has dominion on than it lets on

 

[pigeon]

I do agree that democratic rights are something everyone should enjoy. My point is that just because a country has these rights that the state itself is good for it's people or for the world. Possesing this quality of democracy doesn't automatically make a country better. There are othet factors at play. China is a repressive government but in many ways the state has managed to be quite good at managing the amount of people there in China and delivering a relativly good standard of living. China also is contributing towards international cooperation on climate change. My point is that just because a country lacks certain democratic rights that it's a bad country. Democracy is only as good as the other decisions being made by the state. Is a democratic country good if they elect someone who openly advocates using nukes? Maybe those democratic rights can be equally as bad as they can be good.

Click to shrink...

This is pretty much the exact thought process of the people who think Trump should just declare martial law.

China's strategy for delivering a good standard of living still includes harvesting organs from prisoners, last I checked.

There's a reason the right to freedom and self-governance is the fundamental way we judge other countries. It's because it's the only way a government can gain legitimacy and the best safeguard against tyranny and the atrocities it enables. And make no mistake — China is a tyrannical country.

 

[ahoyhoy]

I'm concerned about how a rising dictatorial power will be compatible with Western democracy. We've been okay up to now but if China continues to grow in importance while headed by a more reclusive and centralized power, all it would take is one crisis to give one man the power to bring a lot of scary stuff to the world stage.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

This is pretty much the exact thought process of the people who think Trump should just declare martial law.

China's strategy for delivering a good standard of living still includes harvesting organs from prisoners, last I checked.

There's a reason the right to freedom and self-governance is the fundamental way we judge other countries. It's because it's the only way a government can gain legitimacy and the best safeguard against tyranny and the atrocities it enables. And make no mistake — The Chinese Communist Party is a tyrannical administration.

Click to shrink...

FTFY

 

[Shoot]

I'm concerned about how a rising dictatorial power will be compatible with Western democracy. We've been okay up to now but if China continues to grow in importance while headed by a more reclusive and centralized power, all it would take is one crisis to give one man the power to bring a lot of scary stuff to the world stage.

Click to shrink...

Despite the lack of democracy, I think China has more checks and balances than the U.S.

 

[TheStrxggler]

I find it annoying that those in the west still are pushing for Communist Ideals without taking a good hard look at China's or Cuba's past.

There is a reason why people in droves flock away from these countries, looking for a better life in the west. It isn't perfect but it is leagues better than the eventual harmful rule Communism brings in its wake.

 

[Alwayscrazybacon]

Despite the lack of democracy, I think China has more checks and balances than the U.S.

Click to shrink...

It does have less regulation. For example you can launch a new product or service in China to a BIGGER market with less restrictions and red tape. If the product/service fails your not too out of pocket.