They are also experiencing electricity shortages with blackouts and brownouts in urban areas. In centrally planned economies urban areas are given prime consideration for all resources. Their central bank has squandered huge amounts of capital on projects that have squandered the resources and have produced no return on investment. They have spent huge amounts on their military. Its formadible but it sits idle and much of the equipment is outmoded.
China has much inherent weakness. Very much doubt that they are in position to actually fight a determined enemy. There will be no invasion of Taiwan and they will do all they can to get what they can in the form of goods, technology and compliance from America. Biden is their guy.
You know your stuff. And there are other problems they are facing and are in right now. There is still no genuine rule of law that effectively limits the power of government, no independent judiciary to enforce the rights promised in the nation’s constitution, no free market for ideas that is essential for innovation and for avoiding major policy errors, no competitive political system that fosters a diversity of views, and a large state sector that stifles private initiative and breeds corruption. China’s slowing growth rate, its increasing debt burden, environmental problems, and the increasing tension in U.S.-China relations compound the challenges facing Beijing.
Nevertheless, China faces major challenges to its future development. As there is still no genuine rule of law that effectively limits the power of government, there is no independent judiciary to enforce the rights promised in the nation’s constitution. Thus no free market for ideas that is essential for innovation and for avoiding major policy errors and no competitive political system that fosters a diversity of views. And a large state sector that stifles private initiative and breeds corruption. China’s slowing growth rate, its increasing debt burden, environmental problems, and the increasing tension in U.S.-China relations compound the challenges facing Beijing.
President Xi Jinping, the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, has used the rhetoric of free trade for the market in both goods and ideas. At the 2017 World Economic Forum in Davos, he stated: “We must remain committed to developing global free trade … and say no to protectionism” (Xi 2017a). Meanwhile, in his October 2017 report at the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), he told his comrades: “We should follow the principle of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend” (Xi 2017b: 36–37).
While President Xi’s rhetoric is notable, the reality is that China continues to protect its state‐run monopolies, restricts entry to financial and other markets, violates intellectual property rights, and severely restricts free speech (see Lardy 2019). Indeed, the 2018 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters without Borders, ranked China 176th out of 180 countries — only four ranks above North Korea.1
The closing of virtual private networks and the silencing of those who advocate a just rule of law and limited/constitutional government — such as Mao Yushi at the liberal Unirule Institute, whose website was shut down and office shuttered (Buckley 2018) — reflect a growing anti‐liberal sentiment under Xi Jinping, who is now “President for life.”
Sheng Hong, the director of Unirule, has argued that if China is to advance, the authorities must understand “the intrinsic tie between free trade and free expression.” The logic is simple: “Free trade refers to the free exchange of commodities, and free expression refers to the free exchange of ideas. As ideas are more valuable than commodities, anyone that truly defends the freedom to trade will defend the freedom of expression”
But allowing a greater scope for the market, however, means reducing the scope of government and diminishing the power of the CCP. Don’t hold your breath on that one. These guys are more power hungry than the liberals. And they will just shoot you right out in the open.
wy69