From time to time I’ve written about the troubles facing China, mostly focusing on demographics and resources. Today at Business Insider Linette Lopez has a long, fascinating article on China’s economic crisis—and every crisis in the Chinese economy threatens a crisis in Chinese society and politics. It’s the nature of things in China. I picked the article up at FR:
China is trying to correct a lot of the cultural issues they see in the West. The author of the article Mark referenced missed that. China is trying to have a more culturally healthy society. The industries they are reigning in they see as non healthy for their society.
The biggest point is this same person, Wang Huning, has kept a top position with three Chinese Leadership transitions. He has been compared to a modern day Tocqueville.
Well, there's no doubt that both China and the US are spiraling toward collapse. So first question is which will go first? Second question is which population will revolt and throw off their dictators first? Tempted to put my money on Americans since the tools of oppression are not nearly as well developed as in China but otoh not sure there are enough Americans willing to risk their comfort and isolation.
"I think Xi is incredibly ideological, and he's focused on his legacy," Charlene Chu, a debt analyst at Autonomous Research, told me. "He really wants to reshape China and put it on the global stage — and that does require a *RESET* from the way we've been doing things previously."
...so, this Xi's version of the "Great Reset"..."build back better" v.China.
"Ideologies" (scorched earth policies) that are in reality just thinly veiled efforts meant to 'secure legacies'...seems a familiar story.
What are Xi's prospects for success?
What has historically been the end result when megalomaniacal, Communist tyrants keep millions in abject poverty, then drive scarcity of food and fuels?
100 million + dead in the last 100 years.
This won't end well for Xi..or for Xiden, for that matter.
Red China today looks a lot like the Japanese Empire of the 1920s and 1930s but with more resources and better trade relationships - at the moment - and a larger population to draw from. The Japanese military (government) solution to economic problems at home was military conquest abroad which served to unify the people against 'enemies' of the nation and commit them to sacrifice for victory. Red China seems to be following the 20th century Japanese model; a near bloodless incorporation of Hong Kong, continuing threats against Taiwan, expansion into the South China Sea with fortified 'island building,' a significant blue water naval build-up, expanding footholds across the globe, and weak Western powers unwilling to confront the obvious threat. Should the Red Chinese economy collapse, a distracting 'war' seems very plausible to save the current regime in power. The obvious target would be Taiwan as a symbol of Chinese unification.
This gives a lot of insight into China’s direction:
https://palladiummag.com/2021/10/11/the-triumph-and-terror-of-wang-huning/
The book referenced is not available in English, which says a lot, but here is a machine translation:
https://archive.org/details/america-against-america
China is trying to correct a lot of the cultural issues they see in the West. The author of the article Mark referenced missed that. China is trying to have a more culturally healthy society. The industries they are reigning in they see as non healthy for their society.
The biggest point is this same person, Wang Huning, has kept a top position with three Chinese Leadership transitions. He has been compared to a modern day Tocqueville.
Well, there's no doubt that both China and the US are spiraling toward collapse. So first question is which will go first? Second question is which population will revolt and throw off their dictators first? Tempted to put my money on Americans since the tools of oppression are not nearly as well developed as in China but otoh not sure there are enough Americans willing to risk their comfort and isolation.
"I think Xi is incredibly ideological, and he's focused on his legacy," Charlene Chu, a debt analyst at Autonomous Research, told me. "He really wants to reshape China and put it on the global stage — and that does require a *RESET* from the way we've been doing things previously."
...so, this Xi's version of the "Great Reset"..."build back better" v.China.
"Ideologies" (scorched earth policies) that are in reality just thinly veiled efforts meant to 'secure legacies'...seems a familiar story.
What are Xi's prospects for success?
What has historically been the end result when megalomaniacal, Communist tyrants keep millions in abject poverty, then drive scarcity of food and fuels?
100 million + dead in the last 100 years.
This won't end well for Xi..or for Xiden, for that matter.
Red China today looks a lot like the Japanese Empire of the 1920s and 1930s but with more resources and better trade relationships - at the moment - and a larger population to draw from. The Japanese military (government) solution to economic problems at home was military conquest abroad which served to unify the people against 'enemies' of the nation and commit them to sacrifice for victory. Red China seems to be following the 20th century Japanese model; a near bloodless incorporation of Hong Kong, continuing threats against Taiwan, expansion into the South China Sea with fortified 'island building,' a significant blue water naval build-up, expanding footholds across the globe, and weak Western powers unwilling to confront the obvious threat. Should the Red Chinese economy collapse, a distracting 'war' seems very plausible to save the current regime in power. The obvious target would be Taiwan as a symbol of Chinese unification.