China and the CCP are Not What You Think: Reflections on Yi-Zheng Lian’s Toxic Article

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註冊時間: 2021-06-05, 10:36

China and the CCP are Not What You Think: Reflections on Yi-Zheng Lian’s Toxic Article

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Ho Lok Sang, Senior Research Fellow, Pan Sutong Shanghai-HK Economic Policy Research Institute, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

According to the polls, today Chinese mainlanders are becoming more and more hostile to America. Americans are also becoming more and more hostile to China. This is unfortunate, and augurs ill for the world. This is because each side may be fighting an imagined foe that may not exist. Lian’s recent article in New York Times (July 2 2021) is toxic, because it is feeding the fears that China was an existential threat to America, and the fears that America was an existential threat to China.

As far as I know, the Chinese dream is no different from the American dream, and that was exactly the slogan at the 2008 Beijing Olympics: One World, One Dream.

Yes, we share the same vision for Peace, Prosperity, Equality, and Freedom. These are the universal values that we all cherish. We just do things differently. There is a cultural and historical difference that may seem to divide us. But just as Jews eat kosher food, Indians avoid beef, Muslims avoid pork, and many Buddhists avoid meat, this does not mean we need different nutrients to sustain life.

The Chinese political system is NOT a dynasty as Lian claims. There is no “Ruling Class” that defends its core interests at the expense of oppressed people. China’s political system is, of course, not based on different political parties vying for power, but that does not mean it is totalitarian. But Lian is right in saying that the unitary leadership system of China is rooted in history. Lian is however wrong in saying that the Chinese Ruling Class is defending its interests through surveillance and “opportunistic oppression,” because there is no Ruling Class. The CCP is inclusive. There is peaceful and lawful transition of power from one generation of leadership to the next, although this does not rely on the ballot box. Promotion to the Chinese leadership is based on competition among cadres based on performance and track record. Quite a few of the members in the Politburo came from grassroots. They include Wang Yang and Han Zheng, both of whom are also Vice Premiers.

Retired Premier Zhu Rongji is a staunch supporter of the Chinese Communist Party. He worked all his way from a grassroot cadre to premier. His father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was 12. He always lived a very frugal life. An economic reformer, he devoted his effort to fighting vested interests that had tried to sabotage reforms. He donated all his royalties of 24 million yuan to charity. He does not belong to any “Ruling Class.”

Calling China “the communist empire” stokes fears. Empires are typically expansionist. But China has expressed its commitment to non-intervention in the affairs of other sovereign nations.

It is important to note that the Chinese Communist Party is not even bound by ideology. Instead it is entirely pragmatic, with the sole purpose to strive for the same values of Peace, Prosperity, Equality, and Freedom as America’s. Its success on so many fronts is not fortuitous. It has learnt not to be bogged down by ideology, following Deng Xiaoping’s famous adage: “Never mind the color of the cat. It is a good cat as long as it catches rats.”

In a multiparty system, different parties typically represent different class interests. When a party gets into power, it may want to hold on to power and suppress dissent. Using public resources and official power to gain an advantage over competing parties is of course unfair and can be described as oppressive. But China’s political system is not a multiparty system. In a single party “unitary leadership” system, fairness can be achieved as long as it is inclusive and it allows everyone to join and compete fairly for promotion. Today, even capitalists can join the Chinese Communist Party. Many policy initiatives in China are also subject to consultation in the form of Zhengqiu Yijiangao, which literally means Draft to Seek Comments. China calls this Consultative Democracy.

So far this system seems to be working well, and the governance on the mainland has drawn the support of the Chinese public. A recent Harvard Ash Center longitudinal study that “has taken the better part of 15 years” found that “In 2016, the last year the survey was conducted, 95.5 percent of respondents were either ‘relatively satisfied’ or ‘highly satisfied’ with Beijing. In contrast to these findings, Gallup reported in January of this year that their latest polling on U.S. citizen satisfaction with the American federal government revealed only 38 percent of respondents were satisfied with the federal government.”

Lian is correct in concluding there is little chance that the CCP is going to collapse any time soon. But why did he conclude: “a menacing challenge remains at [the West’s] front door”? China does not see America as an enemy. Why is China a menacing threat? Just because it is doing so well?

Unfortunately, a toxic article like Lian’s is feeding fears in China that the US wants to sabotage its success and overturn the One Party Rule which has been instrumental to China’s success. More and more people will then see America as an enemy. The CCP is justified to mobilize its resources to defend the political system that has served China so well. It certainly has the support of the public to fight any subversive activities of America.

I fear the dynamics of this interaction. The polling results in America and in China are scary.

Instead of trying to subvert China’s success, why not do Reflection to see how America can do better? China is not going to threaten Americans’ way of life, including its political system. China believes that each country has the sovereignty to choose its own political system. Please do not call it totalitarian, because it is not.

China believes in fair play. The fact is: the world is not static. China’s political system has evolved over time and its governance has improved. America can do the same. Reflect, reform, and do better. How to do that is entirely up to Americans. That will make a better world for tomorrow.

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