China Sliding Backward

Saw the news last night and it broke my heart. China is moving backward. While China under the communist party has always been a dictatorship, there is some different opinions and counterbalancing power in the inner power circle. Now it’s just Xi, the modern day Mao. He’s flushing all the good work of Deng down the toilet.

Sad, and dark day for China.

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It’s China, what do you expect? I’d be surprised if they keep their word. Dictatorship is in the blood.

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So, you make even more money HERE in the good old US of A… don’t tell me you ain’t up for that???

Short to medium term nothing really changes. The chance of success for their economic reforms may even go up.

Longer term it’s very bad for China. Cult worship and concentration of absolute power never ends well. I feel sorry for the 1.4B fellow Chinese. Personally I am super glad I moved here to this great country.

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I know China is cracking down, but it sounds like people will continue to try to bring money out to the West. Cool!!!

Well, Singapore has no term limit and it seems to be very well managed. Even the son took over the country.

This trend seems inevitable though. Putin and Xi have shown that political forces changes only gradually. An artificial political reform might be too pretentious to last. It could be very well the case that Xi and Putin are the very best option for their county at this historic moment.

Xi can bring back the term limit before he dies anyway :joy:

Over speed to political changes is more dangerous than slow pace. SF’s numerous regulation is the best proof. Simplistic Democracy can be the destructive force to end a civilization.

Singapore is much better than the bankrupt Banana republic. Effiency and effectiveness are very important considerations before the country is too rich and can’t find ways to waste time. (Is SF too rich and can’t find ways to waste time, money and resources? It can explain all the stupidness from those stupidvisors)

Don’t sweat and fight the natural reality. Enjoy it.

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With this change, I’m more bullish on China’s long term economy. Before the country is ready for the next political stage, this might be a very good option for 20 years.

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Yeah I read that too. Cult of worship / Mao — Xi is headed down the same path. Bad for China in the long run — and I wonder how the HKers are reacting to this bit of news. Really bad news. You know, this generation in China have completely forgotten about –

  • The Great Leap Forward (not.)
  • The Cultural Revolution (i.e. death of millions)
  • The Gang of Four
    etc…
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Why didn’t those things happen in Chiang Kai-shek’s Taiwan and Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore? Dictatorship might not be the reason at all. Chinese emperors and other countries’ kings used to have much more power than Mao, but none of those bad things ever happened.

Communism was the evil, but they have discarded communism down the toilet now. I see them going the route of Singapore, not the Soviet Union.

Democracy is overrated and communism is the worst thing ever possible. The most evil thing about communism is the radical political changes it promotes.

Political stability is a wonderful thing.

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I think the HKers have gone numb already. There is a recent trend people there are moving to Taiwan. But Taiwan’s economy has gone to the toilet. There are no good options.

The ultimate destination of democracy is communism. I am fearful of too much democracy. If US can have a little more dictatorship, it would be better. I hope California governor can stop the crazy things in SF, for example.

I feel fortunate that US has a lot of periods of political deadlock. Those deadlock leads to political stability and it brings us prosperity and peace of mind.

Ultimately for a healthy society you need some checks and balances. Freedom of the Press is one of the key tools for a system of checks and balances — as well as a multi-party political system.

The US is moving towards a more authoritarian model with Trump @ the helm, but we can see that the press and the multi-party political system will conspire to move the pendulum the other way ---- and then in the future the pendulum will move back yet again. What you want is a system that allows the pendulum to sway one way or the other — it acts as a relief valve for the people. I agree w/ you that our periods of political deadlock lends political stability.

Taiwan today has a pretty free press as well as a multi-party political system. Even though their economy is not doing well, you get the sense that the people there have a say in their destiny.

For places like Singapore or China both, which has limited freedom of press and effectively a one-party-system, the legitimacy of the government really is dependent on the government’s ability to improve the lives of the people. The past few decades have seen prosperity and a relatively satisfied populace (1989 and Tiananmen notwithstanding). At some point though, the single-party-system will get it wrong, like all dynasties do, and economic expansion will cycle into economic contraction. That will be an inflection point — the people will want change, but the single-political-party will hold on to power.

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Trump will not be a dictator, or authoritarian. Maximum of 8 years and he’s out.

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Exactly, that would be the pendulum swinging the other way.

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Great Depression :slight_smile: is not an economic contraction?

And your point is?

Freedom of the press is meaningless without accountability for being factual. The American public is beyond ignorant of basic facts while thinking they are more informed than ever. That’s a very dangerous situation. Democracy where uninformed people can vote based on emotions is just as scary as dictatorship. Emotional decisions are bad and will lead to many mistakes.

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The two term rule was set up by Deng himself and written into Chinese constitution in 1982. I don’t think anyone can say Deng was a big fan of western style democracy. So why did he do it?

Read some more what Deng said over the years about the danger of personal cult and absolute power.

China is sliding back towards a dynasty. It sows seeds of instability that will have grave long term consequences. Short term things will be alright. Long term china’s future dims considerably. Maybe that’s for the better. China may need another revolution.

I agree with this statement. At least, though, as a concept, “freedom of the press” (quotes intentional) allows for political dissent. In a system where political dissent is not allowed, it is easy to fall into absolute power.

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Not obvious? USA system of democracy still have economic contraction!!! just like any governing system. In fact, it can cause a f… terrible one like the Great Depression. In other words, he makes an incorrect assertion.

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