China on the Eve of the Beijing Olympics

China is not going to go away anytime soon. It’s economic expansion into the foreseeable future will continue, as a the result of expanding domestic demand not access to foreign markets. China used its comparative advantage in labor costs and command of macroeconomic levers to boot-strap its rate of economic development, and create a thriving domestic market. With a savings rate of 20%, and a high degree of consumer confidence China is in a similar position to the U.S. during the 1950s. The Chinese have long known that eventually the US would go belly up as a market – our long term economic indicators are all spiraling downwards. While they are using capitalist techniques to pole-vault their economy over the hurdles of primitive capital accumulation (after a period of boot-strap reconstruction under Mao - a common phenomenon after the inception of a new dynastic reign) they are Marxist economists at heart and they know what they’re doing. They’ve unleashed a tiger and are trying to hold it by its tail. They may go off in one direction or another but if they hold fast they will be able to hang on no matter what happens elsewhere.

Most western observers know nothing whatsoever about China, its history or its culture. China has gone through multiple periods of decline and revival, stagnation and then dynamic expansion. It’s in ascendancy now and past experience suggests it should be able to maintain its position for generations to come. China’s modernization drive was outlined more than a century ago during the last throes of the Qing dynasty and the Chinese Communist Party was founded by disillusioned reformers whose descendents are finally implementing those policies.

The ideal Chinese form of governance is a benign authoritarianism where everyone knows their place in the social hierarchy and gives the central authorities deference. It’s called Confucianism and its ideology is firmly in command in today’s China. If the country is at peace and the economy grows, if foreigners come to China to pay homage to its central position in the world order, then all is well under heaven and the government has its mandate to rule. Why should the Chinese accept without question our economic and political model? China historically had a mixed economy with a very strong role played by the central authorities, which had numerous monopolies for the production of goods, services and procurement of resources. That is what we’re seeing in operation today. It’s foolhardy to call it capitalism, socialism, or communism. It is Chinese. It is a manifestation of the time honored Chinese way of doing things being implemented in the 21^st century.

I would advise civil libertarians and human rights advocates to accept the reality that China, both its leaders and its people, operates under a different paradigm than we do. They will no more listen to outside interlopers than we do. The Chinese will develop at their own pace without outside interference. Their people, just as ours, will rise up of their own accord when they see fit, as they have throughout their history. At present there is much more pride and satisfaction amongst all Chinese I’m in contact with than at anytime in the past. Not to say there aren’t gripes, just as there are about our circumstances here at DailyKos and elsewhere (and the Chinese have a vibrant blogosphere).

So let’s direct our ire at targets that we can hit and reserve the anti-China bluster. It’s much better to try to understand a country that had more people when our country was born than we have now, than to lash out blindly. The Chinese people, and the nation of China are not our enemies or adversaries. Let’s not make them into 21^st century bogeymen.