ESSENTIAL BACKING: President Xi Jinping inspecting an honor guard in September. The armed forces are integral to his “China dream,” a rejuvenated nation that is both peace-loving and militarily powerful. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Economist: How the West got China wrong
It bet that China would head towards democracy and the market economy. The gamble has failed.
LAST weekend China stepped from autocracy into dictatorship. That was when Xi Jinping, already the world’s most powerful man, let it be known that he will change China’s constitution so that he can rule as president for as long as he chooses—and conceivably for life. Not since Mao Zedong has a Chinese leader wielded so much power so openly. This is not just a big change for China (see article), but also strong evidence that the West’s 25-year bet on China has failed.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West welcomed the next big communist country into the global economic order. Western leaders believed that giving China a stake in institutions such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would bind it into the rules-based system set up after the second world war (see Briefing). They hoped that economic integration would encourage China to evolve into a market economy and that, as they grew wealthier, its people would come to yearn for democratic freedoms, rights and the rule of law.
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WNU Editor: For years many have warned that this day was going to happen .... that day has arrived. China is now threatening war over Taiwan (see earlier post), and it's aggressive stance against almost all of its neighbors on issues of boundaries, trade, and making sure that they conform to China's geopolitical priorities has only intensified. For years we have fed the tiger .... and now we have the beast.
