[Enemy Of The State]

Comments?

[Enemy Of The State]

Will post my thoughts shortly...

[ken5050]

The question is not if Communism in the PRC will end....of course it will..it's inevitable. The question is will it implode as did the USSR..or explode, in a war against Taiwan or even India.......The old men who rule the country may decide to role the dice....

[American Soldier]

In the extreme long term, what sort of government China has will not matter to us. In the short term it concerns me because I'd like to see one that would not attack Taiwan or execute theists for the horrible crime of mentioning that it wasn't very nice for the Chinese to steal their country... However, in the toward the end of this century when China's economy is much larger than ours and they wield more influence, they will go into an imperial phase. This will be true regardless of whether they are ruled by monarchs, a political party, a theocracy, a democracy, etc. etc. it just plain doesn't matter. The Chinese psychology of national humiliation will require them to reassert themselves as the world's foremost power. That's when we will have to fight them. And it will have nothing to do with whether their leaders were popularly elected or not.

[crystalk]

As I finally posted here a week or so ago, my interpretation of Bible prophecy is that China will be taken over by a westernized/Christianized minority (say 15%) of the population, which will govern for the best good of all, and there is thus grounds for optimism.

This is kind of a reverse Boxer rebellion, with the western ized and baptized, revolting against the nativist know nothings.

Another Sun Yat Sen, perhaps, is in the wings?

[rockfish59]

nuke beijing now!

[IronJack]

"A government without legitimacy is not well placed to cope with a crisis,"

How is the government in China any more "without legitimacy" today than it was under Mao? Or Deng? Or any of the other gangsters who have run it in the last 50 years?

[Born to Conserve]

Well sure, duh. They shut down their internet connections. No population will tolorate that.

[Polonius]

"Strange things happen from Chinese dynasties near their end," Buruma writes in the opening paragraph of his book. "Dams break, earthquakes hit, clouds appear in the shape of weird beasts, rain falls in odd colors and insects infect the countryside."

Sounds like Buruma believes the communists have lost the Mandate of Heaven.

[colorado tanker]

Many good points in this article. Shifting toward a market economy has bought the Chinese more time than the Soviets had. (IMO Gorbachev's mission was to do a China to save the Soviet economy and save the Soviet Union from collapse, but the rot was too far advanced.)

But the shift toward a market economy and the collapse of European communism have exposed the ideology as bankrupt. China today is simply an authoritarian government with no ideological basis other than it sort of works.

China has no democratic tradition. Historically, China was governed by an Imperial system with Confucian regional and local administrators. When the Empire disintegrated, regional warlords and mandarins took over. Unless a bold reformer is given power in Beijing, I fear the transition from the present government could involve another warlord era.

The danger for the US is that the present regime may resort to nationalism and war to try to confer legitimacy and hold onto power. That's bad news for Taiwan, S.E. Asia and Japan.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

FYI

[Standing Wolf]

I hope he's right.

[azhenfud]

Thank you for posting this.
In a previous thread, I said "communism in China is in its last quivers of death", but some ridiculed me for making that statement.

Personal observation of the Chinese is evident of the impending fate of the CCP, as it is known now. The Chinese are working on a slow developing, more democratic form of government which may take another ten years to realize - but it is coming. The more the Chinese are introduced to a free-market enterprise system, the quicker the change will affect the average citizen there and the sooner the governing body (whatever the people there decide to adopt, post CCP) will more closely represent the Chinese citizen...
Az