China Evolving In The Wrong Direction

The Yankee Sailor ^ | 5/30/2008 | The Yankee Sailor

[Yankee Sailor]

Michael A. Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute lays out a convincing case in this month’s Far Eastern Economic Review that Beijing may be successfully integrating economic reforms with their authoritarian system and becoming a “mature facist state“. If his assertion proves to be true, it may put the lie to the neoconservative theorem that where goods flow freely across borders, peace is the result.

Nonetheless, the short history of classical fascism suggests that it is only a matter of time before China will pursue confrontation with the West. That is built into the dna of all such regimes. Sooner or later, Chinese leaders will feel compelled to demonstrate the superiority of their system, and even the most impressive per capita GDP will not do. Superiority means others have to bend their knees, and cater to the wishes of the dominant nation. Just as Mussolini saw the colonization of Africa and the invasion of Greece and the Balkans as necessary steps in the establishment of a new fascist empire, so the Chinese are likely to demand

[LS]

As a free trader, I for one have never maintained that free markets would of themselves guarantee a "peaceful" China. What I have said is that it would force a choice, that as Lincoln said, a house cannot be divided against itself, and that China would have to either become democratic and reasonably peaceful or crush the market reforms that have already taken place.

One other note: as Victor Davis Hanson shows, the verdict of history is always with the freer societies in conflicts with less free societies.

[x_plus_one]

China is just another crap shoot. The odds are long that they will become addicted to the good life.

[LS]

The odds are long because at some point material prosperity means that people start speaking their minds, and when they do that, tanks tend to roll.

[ByteMercenary]

Interesting take ...

At the risk of sounding silly, I think that China can see the problems with the ‘melting pot’ USA and realizes it has a huge advantage in that it is not saddled with many of the things that are contributing to the decline of the USA. Speaking in generalities, China does not have a multi-racial population per se, that is creating so many issues over here. China has no significant islamic population and does not allow the teachings of islam to invade public policy, again unlike the USA. Any religious Chinaman is likely to persue the tenets of any of the *isms they have which are only slightly different in their basic teachings. In the USA we have Christianity which has nothing in common with islam whose basic teaching is convert or die.

So together with a active control of borders and immigration and with a homogenous (and humongous) population, China is poised to become a major economic and political power that speaks with one voice. This is again unlike the USA where many of our political animals speak treason openly both here and abroad.

Call it the power of the hive ...

[sickoflibs]

One other interesting thing. China changed their rules so only married heterosexual couples within an age limit and not obese are allowed to adopt children. This seems very conservative, but not libertarian. Here's any so called ‘loving’ parent will do, which means homosexual couples and single women.

[hellbender]

The idea that free trade prevents war, and that prosperity restrains aggressive, expansionist nations, is a myth. It’s part of the addiction to utopian fantasies, dogmatic theories and wishful thinking which libertarians and classical liberals share with the Left. Rising out of Depression poverty only made National Socialist Germany far more dangerous. China is vastly more dangerous now that it was under Mao. Wealth from exports of oil is what is enabling Putin to re-Sovietize Russia.

[adi]

How would someone define China today? Totally authoritarian,nationalistic to hysterical levels (Olympic torch,Tibet,etc.),”socialist” supposedly through Communism,rant and raves at world enemies,lusts after land that does not belong to it (Spratly islands,Taiwan, Indian territory),massive militarism (”people should thank the PLA (Chinese army) for earthquake relief”) and military expansion,extensive propaganda machine.Doesn’t this remind one of another nation some 60+ years ago also “nationalistic” and whose ideology was “socialism”,a combination described as “Nazism”?