Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Xi Declares "New Era" in China

President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China opened the Chinese Communist Party's congress today with a rousing speech declaring a "new era" in which China will take center stage in the world. It will play an important role in the history of humanity because socialism with Chinese characteristics has made China a great power. Or so he said. In truth, the PRC is led by a gang of bandits who, like Marxists everywhere, betray all of their principles in order to retain power. China is recovering from a couple of centuries of dysfunction, but for the most part, China is as China was.

First and foremost, China has more people than any other country in the world, so it should be a major power. Population and global influence are correlated. Rarely does a nation (Britain for instance) punch above its weight. For a couple hundred years, China was an underachiever. However, as one goes back into history, China played a much bigger role than those years would suggest. Mr. Xi may want to take credit for the recovery in China, but in truth, the previous weakness was an aberration historically speaking, and the country is merely returning to its normal position.

Secondly, the Communist Party is playing the role of administrator that the old civil service used to do, a role which goes back to the Sui dynasty in the sixth and seventh centuries. The structure may be different, and the method by which one rises in the hierarchy may not be identical. Nevertheless, there is a cadre of ambitious administrators who rule China without much of a democratic check on their power.

Third, there remains a fear of outside influence that prevents the full-blown internet from being available, that prevents foreigners from owning all of a company and that insists on territorial integrity of China even when it has annexed neighboring countries (for instance, Tibet). There is a large reservoir of nationalist feeling that Mr. Xi can tap into as a result, which heightens the power of the party. Dissent becomes disloyalty quite naturally in the minds of many, while in truth, dissent is a vital factor in any flexible state.

Mr. Xi's optimistic speech may come back to haunt him, anyway. China has a demographic problem brought on by the now-repealed one-child policy and a social preference for sons that resulted in female infanticide and sex-based abortions. Some cities now have as many as 120 men for every 100 women. These guys aren't going to find wives, and that creates social problems that a structured and rigid society like China will be hard-pressed to address. This is aggravated by an aging population.

Furthermore, the growth of the Chinese economy is slowing from its white hot pace of the 1990s and early 21st century. The floor used to be 7%, the growth rate needed to keep people employed. The last quarter, the economy grew a little less than that, and everyone cheered. The big question among China watchers was whether the nation would get rich before it got old. It got old first.

Finally, there are the internal flaws of the Party. Corruption is a problem. "He [President Xi] also introduced measures to increase party discipline, and touched on his wide-reaching corruption crackdown that has punished more than a million officials, report BBC correspondents in Beijing." Despite having abandoned Marxism (the country has billionaires, stock exchanges and private property developers), it is easy to see that resistance to corrupt officials can turn into resistance to the Party itself.

This journal admires Chinese civilization immensely. The Chinese people simply deserve better than to be ruled by the Communist government in Beijing. Mr. Xi's new era won't look very different historically from the rest of Chinese history. But if the people decide it hasn't measured up, all bets are off.

© Copyright 2017 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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