China naysayers will be proved wrong
Several Western media outlets in recent days have published articles suggesting China was under “huge pressure,” as if Beijing were suffering multiple crises. Such rabblerousing caused a stir on the internet.
Those ideological zealots hope China gets into trouble. Their observations are distorted by this desire, believing everything in China is losing order.
However, China is not as fragile as they say. The country has withstood numerous pressures over the past 20 years. In the past, China has confronted governance difficulties including mass layoffs at State-owned enterprises, environmental pollution, Falun Gong, terrorist attacks spreading inland from Xinjiang, an escalation in Nimby protests and repeated cyber-opinion incidents. Predications that China could be crushed by those challenges were running high at those times.
China successfully curbed these problems from fomenting. Nowadays, in comparing our current governance ability as well as the problems faced in the past, shouldn’t we Chinese have more confidence about overcoming current difficulties?
Videos of small protests are exposed on the internet now and then. However, the scale is incomparable to the past large Nimby protests in cities such as Xiamen and Dalian. Vicious assaults on police that repeatedly happened in the past few years are seldom heard of now.
Lasting smog and ecological disasters that irritated the public and serious casualties caused by small natural disasters or management blunders are also decreasing.
The argument that China is facing more pressure than in the past is a hasty judgment or driven by ulterior motives. It is not supported by facts or any statistics.
The current governance of China is stable. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the country has been committed to resolving issues of high public concern and has achieved remarkable results. For instance, China has witnessed outstanding accomplishments in the anticorruption campaign, adjustments to the nation’s economic structure and cutting overcapacity and pollution. The construction of social fairness has also taken a huge leap ahead.
But when old problems are eased, new problems emerge. This is the normal state of Chinese society.
The Chinese economy currently lacks momentum. The enthusiasm of some local authorities toward the promotion of economic development is not great.
To solve these new problems, revitalizing the economy is perhaps the most significant driving force. That being said, relevant policies to release social vitality are needed.
If the country can make enterprises more willing to invest, create more opportunities for citizens to make money, raise wages in all walks of life, maintain not only economic prosperity but also optimism in society, then trade wars, Western accusations or sensational public incidents on the internet are not so difficult to settle.
Since the 1990s, waves of “China collapse theory” have emerged in Western public opinion. But those who waited to laugh at China eventually became a joke themselves.
Today, those creating the “China pressure theory” are again misreading the situation of the nation.
Past history has proved the strong endurance of Chinese society. With the rise of China’s comprehensive strength and experience, Beijing has learned from other nations’ development, including their shortcomings. The country’s political confidence is being steadily consolidated and its adaptability in facing difficulties is bound to grow.
Anyone who makes wrong judgments and acts accordingly in this regard will pay the respective price.