Those of us living in the western industrialized world are well aware of the growing giant in East Asia. China, a poverty-stricken nation after World War Two, now not only has the world’s largest middle class, it has an economy that is growing faster that the rest of the world combined according to some economists.
One thing is certain; China is growing much faster than our knowledge of the country. Many westerners who live in China, or have lived in China, say that most peoples’ knowledge of China is thirty to forty years out of date. We assume many things that are not true, for example, there is very little interest amongst the majority of Chinese people in becoming a democracy. We westerners were always told that almost everyone in China wanted to “escape” and come to a land of the free. The truth is, there is very little interest in leaving China amongst the majority. People over fifty remember life under Mao and the Cultural Revolution which included starvation, oppression, poverty and living in fear. Now, those same people live in modern condo apartments with colored televisions, computers, and all the appliances that westerners have. Furthermore, the average city dweller has enough disposable income to eat in a restaurant every day of the week if they choose to do so.
The Communist Party of China CPC) knows they cannot bully 1.37 billion people so they have adapted policies which keeps them in power… 1) have a strong economy which results in a secure and comfortable standard of living; 2) keep people content by providing efficient government services, and 3) maintaining a low profile; people seldom even think of government. The police, which were little more than brutal Party goons under Mao and his successors, seldom intrude on the lives of the average person; they are much more likely to mediate disputes, rather than arrest someone.
You may be surprised to learn that there are eight opposition political parties in China and not all Ministers of the Central Government are members of the CPC.
Will China replace the USA as the world’s most powerful nation? Not likely as a military power but quite probably as an economic power. China’s defense budget is less than one-quarter that of the US defense budget. These two countries need each other if they are to continue being the world’s economic powerhouses.
The Chinese people are aware of the continual “China bashing” by some western leaders and the western media, and this just makes the Chinese people more nationalistic and supportive of their government. Chinese President Xi Jinping, for example, has a domestic approval rating of 90%, far above the approval rating of any leader of a democracy.
