No Comment on Chinese Govt

A Westerner [Jody Baumgartner] who has spent more time than me in China (and who has married a local) writes that he finds my remarks about China "exceptionally shallow and uninformed." He offers no elaboration, but helpfully adds that he means no offense.

I don't know whether he just has a chip on his shoulder, or whether he understands something significant that I don't. All my other feedback (this list currently has 82 people) has been quite positive. Since I aim for insight, pleasing or otherwise, I've responded with the suggestion that we meet for a drink, and I await his reply.

Beyond my direct observations, the assertions I've made about China are really very limited. My understanding is that the high economic growth figures I mentioned are generally accepted (I recall seeing such figures in The Economist magazine and elsewhere).

I did however suggest the simplistic inference that the government has in recent years, broadly speaking, promoted the interests of its people relatively effectively. I wanted to append this note to the list at once to stress emphatically that I am really almost totally ignorant about this country and its government. I am not a student of these things.

My interest has been capitalism/democracy, which is widely regarded as the most advanced social system. (I've been particularly interested in the U.S., since it's the most important society of this type and the one which I think may best indicate the condition towards which all capitalist/democratic societies naturally tend.) I've been a casual reader of international news, and most of what I've read about contemporary China in the Western press has not been edifying.

My focus on Western failures led me to conclude in the abstract that a relatively authoritarian government motivated to promote its nation's progress could do considerably better for its people than U.S.-style government. However, although economic growth rates are a major priority for a country in China's position, they are not a sufficient basis for offering China as an example of the realization of this theoretical possibility.

Bottom line: I'm not competent to comment on the government here.