China’s gift to Europe is a new version of crony capitalism. By Martin Hala
NB: A serious question for those who believe in the inherent utility and goodness of the capitalist system - is there some reason for the rampaging criminality we see (some of which is described below) that has overtaken all semblance of law-governed institutions? That the Chinese Communist Party is inventing new norms for crony capitalism (not to mention its vast holdings in US bonds, which gives it a stranglehold over the American economy) indicates that this tendency has absolutely no political limits - it cuts across the spectrum. Setting aside theoretical disputation on 'socialism' - is or is there not a need to regulate production in the social interest? Why can't the great powers put a stop to massive tax evasion by the rich? Must we subscribe to Margaret Thatcher's view that 'there is no such thing as society'? DS
The scrapping of limits on Xi Jinping’s presidential term last month drew attention to the profound changes the Chinese leader has imposed on his country’s political system. But the significance of this move is global – and it concerns Europe in many ways. China has identified a “window of historic opportunity” for itself across the world. To make the best of this, so its logic goes, the country must be united and disciplined under a strong leader and supreme commander. Xi has been compared with Mao Zedong in that he’s created an entirely leader-centric political system – but to think this has consequences only for China risks missing the wider picture.
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The scrapping of limits on Xi Jinping’s presidential term last month drew attention to the profound changes the Chinese leader has imposed on his country’s political system. But the significance of this move is global – and it concerns Europe in many ways. China has identified a “window of historic opportunity” for itself across the world. To make the best of this, so its logic goes, the country must be united and disciplined under a strong leader and supreme commander. Xi has been compared with Mao Zedong in that he’s created an entirely leader-centric political system – but to think this has consequences only for China risks missing the wider picture.
In my country, the
Czech Republic, we’ve seen up close how China intends to expand its reach.
Central Europe is very much part of China’s ambition to “move to the centre of
the world stage” – the expression used by Xi during last year’s Communist party
congress. The basic tool China relies on is the Belt and Road initiative, a
trade and infrastructure project spanning Asia and Europe which encapsulates the
regime’s overarching foreign policy goals, in what Xi has dubbed the “new era”.
The Belt and Road
initiative is often misunderstood in Europe, not least
because it keeps changing its name from one confusing moniker to another.
Originally called the New Silk Road in 2013, it soon changed its name to One
Belt, One Road, only to be rebranded as Belt and Road, apparently because the
word “one” sounded unduly hegemonistic. While layers of propaganda often make
it impenetrable to outside observers, its impact is very real – and growing.
The project has been showcased with pompous rhetoric and music videos, and more
than 60 countries have agreed to join.
But how has it
affected us Czechs? I run a project that monitors China’s attempts to build its
“smart” power through a nexus of business, political and media networks. In
Europe, there’s arguably no fonder ally of Beijing than the Czech president, Miloš Zeman, a populist who was re-elected
earlier this year. He is on record calling Xi his “young friend”, and Belt and
Road “the most remarkable initiative in modern human history”.
A tipping point came
in 2014 when the Czech government proclaimed that the country would aspire to
become “China’s gateway to Europe”. This amounted to a major foreign policy
change. It broke entirely with the pro-democracy principles and
support for Chinese dissidents of Václav
Havel, the hero of the 1989 Velvet Revolution who went on to become
president. Havel saw clear parallels between the past struggles of
dissidents behind the iron curtain in Europe, and those of contemporary
Chinese dissidents – in particular the Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo, whose Charter 08 declaration
was directly inspired by Charter 77, the Czechoslovak anti-communist movement…
read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/18/chinese-europe-czech-republic-crony-capitalismsee also
Anders Åslund - Russia’s Neo-Feudal Capitalism; More posts on Russia
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