The Shortest History of China, by Linda Jaivin, is my latest country history read. Both the Shortest History of and Concise History of series seem pretty good in terms of getting some perspective on a particular country’s development. China is worthy of a lot of study, as it has enormous significance for the global economy and world order. China for most of its history was had a monarchy, with emperors. The size and shape of the country was fluid for thousands of years, as various territories and ethnic groups competed for supremacy. Political dynamics have been driven by certain philosophies that go back to Confucius and others. I intend to read some of those seminal works and report on them, as they have a lingering impact on the attitudes of the Chinese people. Various dynasties did a better or worse job of advancing living standards for the country as a whole. Corruption was a constant problem and led to the downfall of many emperors.
China also had a troubled legacy of interactions with other countries. European powers of course tried to control all or part of the country, with generally poor results. Japan also attempted to control China and in the 19th and 20th centuries engaged in brutal invasions. This has led to some of the current attitudes regarding Chinese independence and self-sufficiency. China had its shot at a free-market, democratic republic, but the experiment did not last long, in part due to bad decisions and corruption in the Nationalist party, which eventually fled to Taiwan. Very unfortunately and largely by accident the communists under Mao ended up in control and did their best to destroy the country, as they have all countries in which they gained power. Tens of millions of people died of starvation or were killed. Only with Mao’s death were more sensible leaders able to attempt to fix the damage.
In recent years, the Chinese government, largely because of a switch to a more free-market system, has made incredible strides in improving the economy and the lives of its citizens. China is an unquestionable leader in science, technology and manufacturing. It has an excellent educational system. But the downsides of a state-directed economy and one-party rule are also apparent. Corruption and mis-direction of assets is common, and the country has an unsustainable debt burden. China’s attempts to undermine the economies of western democracies by hollowing out their own industrial bases has seen some successes but now faces pushback. The country has attempted to enslave third-world countries by massive loans for infrastructure that China controls. There is and will be a huge revolt in many countries against China’s actions.
What is most troubling is that China could have accompanied its economic success with greater freedom for citizens and a move to democracy. Instead the current leader Xi has chosen to create a personality cult and engage in even more strict indoctrination. There is no freedom of thought or speech in China. The country has a frightening surveillance technology which it employs to control all aspects of citizen’s lives. It also attempts to control those Chinese who have left for other countries and it engages in massive manipulation of public opinion in Western countries, with the US being its biggest target. It has stolen and continues to steal industrial secrets to grow its economy. It uses resources it controls, like rare earth minerals, as leverage against other countries.
Who knows what will happen after Xi, perhaps we will get a more reformist minded government. But at this point China is a malign force in the world. Its actions in Hong Kong and elsewhere have shown that it cannot be trusted to keep to agreements and that it is very willing to use force to meet its expansionist goals. It has supported a barbaric regime in North Korea and is the only thing keeping Putin propped up in Russia. It aids Iran and other US adversaries. Unless and until there is a change in government and actions in China, the US is well-advised to force it out of this hemisphere. Venezuela was a start, eliminating its assets in Panama is mandatory and they must be removed from Cuba as well. Canada needs to pay more attention to what is happening there.
The US government needs to do a far better job of identifying and exposing the Chinese influence operations here and abroad. The public needs to understand the objectives and tactics of the current government and the US needs to confront China more aggressively around its unacceptable behavior. It is a shame really, the Chinese people are smart, hard-working and exhibit many behaviors that humanity needs more of; but the government is the worst example of suppression of human rights and freedom.
