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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 6:27 pm Post subject: 20 years later, Democracy and Rule of Law Stalled |
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Tianamen's Legacy Endures
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China's stellar economic performance during the past two decades has indeed been touted as a success and a model for other developing countries, but analysts say unbridled economic development amid the lack of democratic reforms under an authoritarian regime has also planted the seeds of corruption, a yawning rich-poor gap and social instability.
The combination of a market economy and unchecked political power is a lethal one: the majority of society's wealth is taken up by a small elite class of the powerful and well-connected while ordinary people end up having to pay a high price for the economic boom.
The inequality has fueled anger and discontent among ordinary Chinese people - tens of thousands of ex-workers of state-owned factories still petition the government over jobs losses, while even more are up in arms over having their farmland or properties forcefully taken from them.
According to unofficial estimates, there are at least 100,000 "mass incidents" - ie riots, strikes or street protests - happening across China every year
China spends a hefty amount of resources on public security. Around sensitive anniversaries, Beijing's main streets are heavily guarded by large numbers of police officers, paramilitary and security forces. It also invests heavily on filtering and policing the Internet, with an estimated 50,000 cyber-police monitoring the web.
But this so-called China development model has been touted as a success and is even seen as an alternative model for other developing countries. "Its success is that it's relatively stable, and under this stability, the economy is able to develop quickly,'' said Ching Cheong. "But is this a sustainable model? I'm very dubious of that."
"I can't see the regime getting threatened," said veteran journalist Willy Lam, who witnessed the Tiananmen crackdown. "Its state machine, the monitoring and suppression machines are so huge that even with 100,000 mass incidents every year ... it's not enough to make its leaders feel the need for reform." |
Well, certainly the regime isn't impregnable. But so far many Chinese seem satisfied enough with fazhan, development, up to this point. Of course, we don't often hear from those who are unsatisfied, so its tough to know how great the satisfaction with the CCP is.
China is in a transitory stage and its current government is not reflective of China's national ideological disposition, if one can say a country as big as China shares any single ideological disposition. However, I do hold that the Fukuyama theory is correct, and that the vast majority of the world sees representative democracy and the rule of law as the ideal form of government. But even though the Chinese may instinctively respect and admire democracy, they are also extremely anxious about maintaining national integrity and stability, which is completely understandable given their history. Corrupt but unified governments have been toppled before, only to lead to peasant tyrannies, some violent and short-lived, others painful in their longevity. Mao's Communists being the latest and worst example of such a peasant revolt which had caused too much damage. IOW, Chinese loyalty to the CCP, insofar as it exists, stems as much from a rejection of Mao's revolution as anything else; Deng's and his successor's reforms have moved China away from Mao's darkest hours. Why threaten that with the naive dreams of democracy that died so easily in 1989? |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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| extremely anxious about maintaining national integrity and stability |
Isn't this more or less what Jackie Chan was saying a couple of weeks ago? If there are indeed 100,000 'riots, strikes or street protests' every year, it speaks to a level of discontent that would be worrisome in any political system. Industrialization is a wrenching experience, as any history of the 19th Century demonstrates. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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| extremely anxious about maintaining national integrity and stability |
Isn't this more or less what Jackie Chan was saying a couple of weeks ago? |
No. Jackie Chan was saying that Chinese aren't ready for democracy, not that Chinese aren't ready to overthrow the CCP.
The position I'm giving is damning the CCP with scant praise, whereas Chan was giving the CCP a full on hardline ideological blowjob. |
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