The irony is that if they weren't so scared and determined to keep power by any means necessary, they could address the people's stated grievances (justice, corruption, and equal opportunity) and they would keep power by general consent.
What I can't figure out is why they think they need to retain power. Is it because they are scared of what will happen to them if they don't? Do they feel that China without Communism will be chaos? Or is it just institutional momentum?
This is very true. Mao almost killed the Communist Party. So long as the Party can provide stability and prosperity they will stay in power. But I fail to see the problem here? Most people just want to live their lives- not sit in caves and have philosophical debates about human rights and democracy.
The CCP has now been in control of China for essentially everyone's living memory yet apparently the masses are still uneducated enough, too volatile, too vindictive and wild to support a democracy. Plus, how could the CCP not be elected if it's that great, after all?
Either the people of China, even after a lifetime rule by the great CCP, are somehow inherently worse by those above criteria than those in all functioning democracies or they're being played like a fiddle, gaslit like no one's ever been gaslit before.
In Machiavellian power politics (which is how the Communist party operates), you want to keep all potential usurpers under your control. If any can escape, they will, and they will come after you. This is China reminding them that even though they are not in China, they are not free from China’s influence.
And make no mistake, the folks they’re doing this to are essentially the “nobility” or “landed gentry” of Chinese society. These people have connections and skills such that they will be fine if China does not want them, and they would likely be among the political leaders / influencers in the event of a collapse of single-party rule.
After living in China for a few years, I understood something: the only thing chinese government cares about is its longevity.
The whole system is designed to keep the party in the control seat. Economic growth was a way, now that's is slowing down, the party is finding other ways, but it would be a mistake to think chinese economy is more important than power for the party.
This is a perfectly rational decision, you just need to look at it from the value system making the decision. The Party's #1 goal is to remain in power. Pretty much everything they do is with that in mind. They also seem to assume that revolution is always knocking at the door. [1] Communism has had a long history of ideological coercion (it's pretty much a founding principle), so this sort of thing should come as no surprise. In fact, it's a lot more subtle than most. [2]
[1] This may not be so far-fetched. Several years ago a Party document was released documenting 100k or 200k protests, ranging from small to large. When the bullet train derailed 3 or 5 years ago, Weibo went wild within minutes and ultimately some provincial Party officials took the fall. And the example of Arab Spring has got to be pretty scary.
[2] I don't know if it is true anymore, but historically people were encouraged to rat out neighbors with ideological deficiencies. Not just in China, this is pretty much standard fare in totalitarian states.
You obviously have no idea how much control and influence the Chinese government exerts over its citizens. I really don't know how people can still be so blatantly naive about how communist parties operate and how they maintain power over their citizens.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you write, but how do you explain the Chinese Communist Party still being in power since 1949? It's anything but transparent or accountable.
If there is one thing that the CCP cannot stand is the idea that democracy exists somewhere under their umbrella. It will be destroyed and there is no room for it under their totalitarian philosophy that common people are children to be controlled by The Party
I don't think "legitimacy" is a useful concept here. The Communist Party of China doesn't derive its power from the consent of the governed, as Mao said, it derives it from the barrel of a gun. As long as they have the weapons and continue to be ruthless enough to use them they are not going anywhere.
I don't understand why you're referring to the Chinese Communist Party as a single entity. There's multiple groups within it vying for power, each with their own agendas and visions for China's future.
Has the CCP ever seemed to WANT to lean towards democracy?
I'm not convinced that simply a leadership change would be enough to change the fact that the CCP first and foremost wishes to preserve its own power, ideology or anything else is secondary.
The Communist Party is the reason China is in this mess in the first place, and further control and oppression by them isn't going to magically fix it.
You’re forgetting that China had a renaissance moment under the comunist party. They may not agree with some things but are majorly backing their government. They’re in a way rational, if the communist party fell overnight they’d be in big trouble, they wouldn’t be able to self govern democratically. The problem is that the party is corrupted and has absolutely no plans to reform. It will only get more corrupted before something significant changes.
China takes Democracy (??) very seriously. You'll see it on propaganda banners everywhere. You see, the leadership is democratically appointed by the will of the people. The 100% majority of the CCP is completely justified by its benevolent rule.
/s
There is no need to abandon old principles when you can just use doublethink to make them mean whatever you want them to mean.
I've never understood then why the Chinese are against democracy. If everyone is happy and can't imagine a better government wouldn't they just elect the CCP every time?
This is the first time I have ever heard the claim that the CCP's hold on power is anything but rock solid. Unless you mean that specific leaders within the party have a tenuous hold against their party rivals.
What I can't figure out is why they think they need to retain power. Is it because they are scared of what will happen to them if they don't? Do they feel that China without Communism will be chaos? Or is it just institutional momentum?
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