China: sort of similar but different!

I have been reading some more of Paul Cheng's (Zheng Mingxun's) book On Equal Terms in which he attempts, and I think succeeds, in explaining modern China to western readers.  Certainly, if you wish to begin to understand the Chinese political and social psyche this book is essential reading.  What strikes me about about Mr. Cheng's description is not so much the differences between 'us and them' but the (sort of) similarities.  China is a one-party state but the Party itself is far from monolithic.  It contains within it, in broad terms, a Left and Right wing.  There are those who yearn for a return to purist Mao-ism and those who are eager to seize the advantages, as they see it, of capitalism, albeit, capitalism guided by the Party:

Today, the country has a hybrid economy, neither fully communist nor fully capitalist, run by a government that has evolved away from genuine top-down control yet is not subject to the kind of constitutional checks and balances associated with Western democracies.  Integrating the private sector into the country's socialist market economy continues to be a huge and complex transition. 

You might think that one-party rule is very foreign to our system - but think about it again!  Would it really make a Chinese noodle's worth of difference if 'Edenoidal Ed' was running the country as opposed to 'Dim Dave'?  We now have a political class running our country.  Take away the extreme fringe and you have a soft, wobbly centre whose only real interest is ensuring they remain part of the political class and a system which almost guarantees them their "brief hour upon the stage".  To their regret and irritation, they remain subjected to the unremitting laws of economics which, if breached too often or too carelessly, will wreak havoc on them.  Also, if national affairs lead to sustained and stormy times, even the people might demand their revenge, as our European neighbours are beginning to find out.

However, a large difference between 'us and them' lies in the nature of the political class.  Ours is almost entirely ill-educated, inefficient and unintelligent.  I'm not suggesting that the Chinese have somehow abolished these universal weaknesses but they have a very strict system for weeding out some of them:

Here it is worth looking at the process of becoming a government employee, which is very rigorous in China. Officials in public institutions are trained and retrained through approximately three thousand party schools before they are eligible for promotion.  Any misconduct is first investigated by the party before being turned over to the civilan justice system.  The tentacles of the state and thus the party go well beyond the government. 

Of course, whilst Mr. Cheng doesn't mention it, we all know, or can guess, that the purity of the sytem is not virgo intacto!  Human nature being what it is, there is bound to be cronyism at best and outright corruption at worst, but even so, at least officialdom is trained for the job on the basis fo some rigorous examinations and tests which is in direct contrast to the mandarins of Whitehall with their 2nd class degrees in social studies from Cleckheaton Poly-versity!

Alas, I must return to the Churchyard now, having failed yesterday to complete the cutting of the grass in the south-east corner.  I will return later with some thoughts on possibly the greatest menace to the stability of the world as this new, giant, Chinese cuckoo grows in the global nest - American politicians!

 

Comments

[A K Haart]

Interesting post. I often wonder if the EU sees China as its model, with a narrow range of internal political views giving a degree of flexibility to an otherwise inflexible system.

No doubt we'll see over the next decade or so, but I'm sure many senior EU bureaucrats envy the Chinese way of doing things.

[Obligato]

Note that Thailand has a king.....

[rogerh]

I doubt China succeeds because her politicos have some kind of intellectual genius or their system is especially good. May I suggest China starts from a different place - a governmental 'clean sheet' (more or less). No whining about scrapping a few bits of inconvenient legislation; instead scrap the bl**dy lot and destroy utterly the old guard and vested interests. Tough but it seems to have worked. Parts of it badly managed, but omlettes/eggs. Would it have worked without? probably not. Now imagine if you will Cameron and Clegg lugging huge bins of excrement on their backs to far flung fields from 5am till 10pm.......

[Furor Teutonicus]

Either by design or default, we HAVE a "one party state", and they are all "shades of red".

They all give lip service to being "a BIT different to "the others"", but where ARE the differences in practice?

The "Government" here call themselves "Centerist conservative" or some such crap. But whilst they are run by some Ossi, ex FDJ Tussi, rip our services apart and starve them of cash, whilst pushing my taxes, in the form of "Green taxes", amonst others, through the fucking roof, so they can pay the bastard Greeks to live in the style they would like to become accustomed, (What's the Greek for "Plasma screen, bookies, jogging trousers, Staffy, and white lightning cider?) then they are in my eyes no better than the commy scum in China, or Cuba.

[Edward Spalton]

The British government is "of the centre" , regardless of the party or coalition which achieves power because most of what it does is dictated by the EU whose policies are somehow regarded as "centrist" although they are, in fact, extremely dictatorial - but in a concealed way. If every judge, policeman, civil servant, council official or quangocrat enforcing EU law and policy was forced to wear a dark blue armband with that ring of stars, we would soon realise who our real rulers are. The Palace of Westminster is a bit like a pub with three beer pumps with different labels and different advertising for the beer - but only one barrel in the cellar. Unfortunately it's not gunpowder.

Perhaps Northern Ireland represents the next stage of development.The parties are legally compelled to be in coalition government, regardless of the outcome of elections. So there will be a slight re-shuffling of ministerial portfolios according to votes cast - but that is all.

Of course, the Northern Ireland Assembly was set up as a very expensive job creation programme to keep some very bad boys off the streets. The pickings are lavish with fortunes to be made at the top by people who can double and treble as MEPs, MLAs and Westminster MPs with salaries and pers pro rata. Then there is a luscious growth of well-remunerated quangos - Northern Ireland, Cross Border, EU, jointly with the devolved Edinburgh and Cardiff administrations ad infinitem. It is politician heaven and almost impossible to lose all your jobs at once, regardless of the vote.

[Lawrence Duff]

China's public sector fell below 40% of GDP back in 2009. Britain's public sector rose above 45% of GDP in 2010.

Arthur Scargill described Socialism as "the state ownership of the means of production and distribution".

In that case, Britain is more Socialist than Communist China.

SoD

[Jimmy]

I think David Duff is more social minded in cutting the grass in the cemetery than China is socialist. China is just a bigger N.Korea.

[David Duff]

Shrewd thinking, AK, better watch out the Commissars are coming!

'Obli', yes, thanks, I had forgotten that.

Roger, I will treasure the image contained in your final sentence!

FT, the irony is that your anger, of course, is shared by those on the doctrinaire Left who use almost the same sort of language. The problem is this: if you alter the rules to make rule by a hard Right party easier you also make it easier for the hard Left. Modern democracy appears to favour the stody middle-ground which is infuriating but not too dangerous.

As Edward Spalton spells out with considerable veracity, it is teh creeping kind of dictatorship, exemplified by the European Commission, which we need to watch like a hawk - oer perhaps, like a mouse facing a hawk, might be a better image!

Thanks, 'SoD', brief and exact as always.

Now there you are very definitely wrong, Jimmy. China is absolutely nothing like North Korea. Treat youself to Cheng's book. I'm not saying China isn't going to be a problem but it very definitely isn't another North Korea.

Thank you all for your comments.