China is commuting mass genocide against the Uighur people, has a surveillance state beyond that of any other nation, it is clearly intending on annexing Taiwan in 5 years whether Taiwan likes it or not, massacred protestors in Tiananmen Square, has a dictator for life, and it didn’t need a democracy or populism to achieve any of that.
Yes. A democratic China would be better for the world.
We have a competent Chinese Trump today in the form of xi jinping - the difference being instead of being limited to merely separating children the children of Other from their Parents and throwing them in jail, Jinping is directing the wholesale imprisonment and "reeducation" of entire religions, and occasionally just taking their organs from them.
I'll take a democratically elected trump that is gone in at most 8 years over the now irremovable xi jinping.
So yes, democracy is unilaterally the better option for China.
have you talked to any Chinese people and how many of them oppose this reeducation of entire religions? I'm just curious whether that will still happen in your planned democratic China.
Could be argued that anyone who watches propaganda on Chinese TV daily isn't particularly fit to have that discussion.
It's not like in the West where people are critical of this kind of stuff. They've really excelled at developing a "hive mind" mentality with what the state media put out.
In a democratic China the Uighurs will have representatives. If they don't, it's not democratic yet.
Ask other democratic nations if they can get away with voting for systematic oppression of a people via a vote.
Historically, decentralizing power (i.e. via democracy) leads to less shittiness for more people.
In any case, what possible reason would the average Chinese person have to systematically oppress the Uighurs or falun gong? They're only oppressed now because their religion poses a threat to the cultural control the Party exerts over the people. In a democracy, that control vanishes.
>In any case, what possible reason would the average Chinese person have to systematically oppress the Uighurs or falun gong?
This question is crucial to indicate that you have no idea about ordinary Chinese people. You need to sit down with some Chinese to talk about it if you are really interested. So I encourage you to find some first gen immigrant from mainland China currently living in SFBA. It wont be hard to find them. I can even direct you to relevant social media sites if you like.
What would Chinese populism look like when it eventually emerges given more democratic features?
Are you sure we are ready for a Chinese Trump? and for the silent majority of China to dictate foreign policy?
I'm from the school of "be careful what you wish for".