The Post-Democratic Future Begins in China
At Foreign Affairs, Eric X. Li argues that China’s future lies with continued one-party rule, and that the Party’s adaptability, meritocracy and non-democratic legitimacy will carry it forward while the West flounders. This, he suggests, will give other developing countries courage to see ...
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“Without freedom, there is no real democracy. Without guarantee of economic and political rights, there is no real freedom.” Seems to pay lip service to democracy, but in fact implies that freedom & democracy will be based on the Party guaranteeing the underlying economic and political rights (of the working class?). Whether freedom and democracy can flourish under the Party’s supervision depends on how corrupt or how ‘pure’ the party can be. Wasn’t this what Mao was worried about when he (& others) instigated the cultural revolution? That struggle will always have relevance to the situation in China while the Party retains control. The fact that the cultural revolution of the 60s largely failed in its aims while creating a lot of death and suffering in the country, doesn’t bode well for the CCP.
Professor of Economics Yasheng Huang’s argument cites the living Chinese cultural example of Taiwan’s democracy, and is far more convincing that venture capitalist Eric Li’s unfounded claim that the PRC’s one-party authoritarian rule is “meritocratic.” Does Li seriously believe that the CCP princelings did not and have not enjoyed special privileges and access to wealth and power simply by the accident of birth into a high cadre’s family? Of course, Li has gotten rich under the PRC’s authoritarian bureaucratic capitalist system and wants it to continue unchanged.