GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON
China is in uncharted waters. Never before in history has a country reached the stage of social development that China has attained. 1bn people lifted out of poverty. A State that offers prosperity, stability, lifestyle choices and a vision going forward.
One part of the narrative is the reaction of previously leading countries to the arrival of China at the Top Table. Some historians, with justification, believe that World War 1 happened because the old European Imperialist countries refused to make room for a new dynamic Germany from 1870. Today the US cannot contemplate relegation from #1 to #2 and tensions ensue.
But today I am looking at China and the increasing prominence of China’s CAC – the Cyberspace Administration of China. China has allowed +encouraged technology groups like Alibaba and Tencent to grow + develop. It has brought benefits to China – growth, employment, rising incomes, increased profits. “It’s Capitalism Running Free” says the anti-communist world gleefully.
But is it? That is why I say “uncharted waters”. Today China is ruled, not by capital or capitalists, but by the Party. The Party is the Trustee for 1.4bn people and will embrace Capitalism on the Party’s terms, not the Capitalists’ terms. In China today, the Regulator has teeth – ask Jack Ma.
So it is not rampant capitalism as such. It does mean Billionaires and Wage Differentials but the end goal is the Prosperity of the People and not the emergence of political influence for the money makers. This may not be Marx’s Gotha Programme or Sir Thomas More’s Utopia or Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. This is Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and it is challenging people’s perceptions of progress, prosperity, democracy and governance. Uncharted waters – for sure.
Tomorrow – Human Rights and Democracy.
