
China Has No Use for Democracy - 11thEarlOfMar
https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2185438/china-has-no-use-democracy-it-needs-strong
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kybernetikos
I believe that the ability to look honestly at your own failings gives you the
opportunity to learn from them, and makes you stronger, both individually, and
as a community and nation.

It's almost impossible for someone who is 'strong' in the sense used in this
article, no matter how unique and noble of character, to maintain that honesty
and dedication to continuously improve. Ultimately it becomes difficult for
them even to know what the truth is, as people around them become more and
more unprepared to share it with them, and the whole structure stultifies.

Putting all the faults and failings and divisions and bickering out in the
open may seem weak, but it can lead to a kind of dynamic strength and
robustness that is not available to the authoritarian.

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bigmonads
The cartoon at the top of this article (squinty eyes, fatty short figure)
makes me uncomfortable, as it edges pretty close to old racist depictions of
Asians and Blacks from half a century ago.

That said, the article itself takes a negative and biased approach to
evaluating China's government. China's system seeks, and achieves,
representation of its people through a variation of a social contract that has
lasted - and been updated and modernized - through thousands of years.

China's current Communist Party is measured against specific outcomes, the
livelihoods, outlooks, and possibilities of the people of China, which have
never looked better (the next century has been dubbed by historians the
"Chinese Century" based on the demographic, financial, cultural, and
technological success of China:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Century](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Century)).
That same party is measured against corruption, and recent efforts in the
country to excise grift and nepotism have given its government new efficiency,
purpose and effectivity.

Old Western power centers (Europe pre-WWII and America post-) may have some
anxiety about the the relative loss of leadership that global scandals, lost
legitimacy, financial crashes, and systemic corruption have wrought in recent
years. Its with this anxiety that I find articles like this written: China is,
and has been, doing something right, and the West needs to look at its own
failings and correct them to succeed and keep pace with 21st century dynamism.

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nutcracker46
More propaganda from vested interests who thrive where human rights and rule
of law are absent. If you want to see the Chinese future, look at the Soviet
Union, Venezuela, and even Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Are there any reasonable people here on HN who are willing to actually trade
their lives to live as a Uighur in China or a Saudi female? Or any sort of
Venezuelan? Have fun with your life without representative govetnment or
respect for individual rights.

~~~
bigmonads
I mean, I wouldn't trade my life for almost any other life - even a life of
greater wealth and power.

But to take the point you've made and work through its conclusions: Hacker
News skews heavily privileged male high-income engineer, and likely wouldn't
trade their lives to live as an _American_ female, much less a Detroiter,
Hispanic laborer, or American prison inmate.

Living in the world's sole superpower (most of HN) has, of course, its own
advantages that we don't need to enumerate.

Chinese future looks a lot brighter according to most political forecasters,
economists, etc:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Century](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Century)

