The annual Chinese legislative session starts tomorrow in Beijing and President Xi Jinping looks firmly in control. Sure, he’s facing some winds of change, a close to stagnant economy, a trade kerfuffle with us, and, as in any authoritarian regime, the lean and hungry looks from his associates and rivals.
But thanks to modern technology and a strategic outlook natural to the Eastern character, Xi’s chances to expand the brief of the Communist Party look solid well into this century. A welcome outcome? No. A likely outcome? Yes.
Gone is the chaos of the Cultural Revolution and the confusion of associated lunacies. But, the Chinese have always been more Chinese than Marxist. The adventures in economic surrealism have been replaced by a Wild West market economy reminiscent of America in the last half of the 19th century.
That has been recently combined with their “social credit” system, where citizens gain or lose regime-monitored “points” according to their adherence to government rules and social dictums. Too few points and you can lose a job, not be allowed to travel by plane or train, be denied entrance to a university, and/or be prohibited from taking part in other normal daily facets of life. How diabolically effective.
Enhanced modern technology greatly aids in the surveillance necessary to keep the system viable and grow it. Once fully implemented, it is doubtful it will do anything but get more intrusive and powerful.
As Orwell and Wells are proved prophets, we would be wise to ask ourselves how the China of tomorrow will fare against us as international competitors. They possess virtual consolidated control over the waking hours of several billion, a large economy that may eclipse the U.S., an expansionist national security policy, and an Eastern knack for strategically executing all of them by long-term planning.
These circumstances will certainly ensure a bumpy 21st century.
