Dan Harris, of the China Law Blog, talks about why the global economic downturn won’t spell political instability in China:
I think that so long as the Chinese people believe Beijing is doing what it can to ameliorate the impact of the downturn, there will be no political insurrection against Beijing. I think that perception of how Beijing is acting is a far more important element in determining discontent against Beijing than is generally credited. If the people perceive Beijing as getting rich off the econimic problems of the Chinese citizenry, there will no doubt be anger with Beijing. But if the people see Beijing as doing whatever it can to solve the problems, I do not think the downturn itself will necessarily lead to a big increase in discontent towards Beijing.
