China is a mass of contradictions. Intellectual property thief. America’s largest trading partner. Home to 476 billionaires. Choked with air and water pollution. A rapidly aging population. And leadership eager to project its national will.
Over the past forty years, since Deng Xiaoping began his policy of “Reform and Opening,” the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has evolved from a less developed country to the second largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world. Over the past 25 years, it has also steadily transformed the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into a force that is capable of influencing regional, and increasingly global, security environments.
Why do 53 percent of millennials prefer socialism to capitalism? Probably because they don’t know what socialism is and neither does Bernie Sanders and others who embrace it. But how bad can it get? Democrats might be moving further to the left but it’s absurd to compare them to Marxists, right? My podcast guest, Ralph Benko, says you might be surprised at how similar their beliefs really are.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Just this year, the Chinese Communist Party held an election in the Great Hall of the People where Xi Jinping was voted “President for Life.” The vote was 2,958 for and six against. With this vote they proclaimed that China is now realizing its dream of national rejuvenation, and it’s grand strategy to restore its Empire.
You’re looking at a country which is the most radical actor on the global stage since the French Revolution.
How would you react if the government put facial recognition cameras everywhere and kept tabs on your every move – right down to to how many squares of toilet paper you are using? It’s happening in China, as the communist government there clamps down on freedom and ramps up its economic and territorial ambitions in its quest to become the dominant player on the world stage.
This will go down in history as the episode of the Bill Walton Show where John Tamny referred to views I presented as utter nonsense and I called his naïve.