The Chinese Communists used capitalism to get their country filthy rich while the supposedly "capitalist" west turned into a bunch of socialist dictatorships with high taxes and regulations.
Nothing surprising, if not the fact the western citizens allowed it to happen without revolting. Most likely they were glued to their phones while it happened.
The Chinese and USSR both decided to switch to capitalism at the same time, but the Chinese economy was (and is) funded by the west while the Soviet one wasn’t.
The leadership and military of the USSR were no longer willing to violently suppress demonstrations in the 1980s.
Got it wrong? That's over-stating it quite a bit. Sure, that was the spin to get a toe hold, but ultimately the West's Capitalists saw massive opportunity, and nothing else.
Long to short, 30 - 40 years ago the media ALWAYS referred to China as Communist China. I can't remember the last time I heard that phrase. That's no accident.
Perhaps the politicians got it wrong. That's no surprise. They're (pardon the editorial) just stupid hand puppets anyway. But the elite capitalist? They were spot on. Just look at how the income inequality gap has widened. Again, no accident.
p.s. If anything, China suckered the West, believing it could influence the West's structure, more than the other way around.
The mechanism that drives China now is capitalism under the guise of communism. The same hardships and suffering occurring under capitalism in the West also now occurs in China thanks in part to the GOP of the 90s thinking that it could control China and "convert" it once China got a taste of capitalism. Except China's capitalism now is more efficient and ruthless than the West's: More workers to nub down and only one entity running the government.
Yeah, they played the West. The Communists got what they wanted (technology transfer), while keeping everything firmly under their control.
> I think China is actually demonstrating the fallacy of our idea that as a country develops it has to become a liberal democracy.
I don't think that's necessarily been proven a fallacy, the idea that liberalizing China would be simple and automatic certainly has been. The Chinese Communists aren't stupid: they've been carefully studying things like post-Communist Russia and the Arab Spring in order to avoid mistakes that might cause them to lose power. If China liberalizes, it will take a unique path that the Communists probably couldn't see.
It was supposed to turn the Chinese into capitalists, and hence into potential allies. They're not communists any more, that's for sure, of course, they're not Western "liberal-democrats", either, which is why the West is in this whole conundrum.
You couldn't get away with this politically in the Western world without a huge stink, although from a capitalistic point of view, it's the right thing to happen.
China has had a weird mix of free market and political totalitarianism since they liberalized in 1990.
Before that their economy was a complete non-event. All of their rapid growth really started in the mid-90’s, and the West started paying attention even later.
That only happened after it embraced the free market and capitalism though. Communist China was, as you say, quite poor for decades.
Capitalism can take many forms and is often tempered with more socialist policies. No country – including the United States" is "pure capitalist". China has its own spin on capitalism, but that doesn't make it not-capitalism.
really wealth legitimized power of the communists and paved they way to insidious regime. had it been not for globalization china could've been the freest country in the world. alas we have this.
People are downvoting you because it looks like you think China is a communist society and western countries are capitalist societies.
There is not much difference between China and western countries. Sure, China is a bit more oppressive (understatement of the year), but they both have element of capitalism and a huge set of coercitive and authoritarian laws which err on socialism.
China found the solution to defeat western capitalism --- a blended model that was internally communist but externally capitalist.
At the same time, they revealed a natural tendency to break up this successful model --- by allowing authoritarian communist mentality to exert too much influence and control over the productive capitalist side.
Capitalism has obvious inherent weaknesses which China recognized and exploited to great advantage for decades. At the same time, Communism also has inherent weaknesses which they may recognize but appear to lack the fortitude to resist. What we are witnessing now is turmoil from the collision of the these bipolar personalities.
Nothing surprising, if not the fact the western citizens allowed it to happen without revolting. Most likely they were glued to their phones while it happened.
reply