It was October 1, 2009. I was watching the news and caught a glimpse of China’s 60th anniversary. It was a gigantic spectacle, a through and through organised and directed event of Cold War proportions, which made the Olympic Games look like a mere finger exercise.
I suspect that anyone who saw the marching soldiers, the missiles on their lorries, the flag paintings done by a highly disciplined and united sea of people, the aeroplanes and the blatant, absolute display of monolithic power by the President a.k.a. Party Secretary – was thinking the same thing: this is what it used to look like in the 70-ties and 80-ties, when the Soviet block was still intact and all those Commies had a reputation of prosperity and military prowess to uphold.
Nowadays we know better. The Russkies who were marching over the Red Square in those days, showing off their toys and cool steps, were living in an empire that was walking the tight-rope on the brink of collapse…. which it finally did near the start of the 90-ties. The USSR was a weak state with a weak army, but it could rely one one strong arm which sufficed to make the USA soil themselves. Their nuclear arsenal.
With my propaganda-invoked doubts about the USSR buzzing in the back of my head – memories and associations rekindled by China’s old fashioned power display on TV yesterday – I could not shed the feeling that China was not trying to mask any vulnerability at all. On the contrary: she came across as a very sturdy and lifelike lady; ageing, yet sovereign and firmly in charge of herself.
This feeling is fully in line with my impression that China might very well be the last pseudo-communist or socialist state which could even survive into the next decade. Why? Because China manages to uphold an air of unity, despite its consisting of more than 60 ethnicities. And what’s even better: it can give us the impression that it indeed survives as a socialist country. And China does that well, judging from the spectacle we were able to see on TV yesterday.
Since I have read Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine” and Wang Hui’s “China’s New Order” they are not fooling me any more though. Maybe the regime is a pretend socialist one, and maybe even successful in upholding that myth for the general public to which I count myself. But in fact, China is as old-school Friedman-style Neo-Liberal as the next – and the only one next to China – super power, the USA. And maybe even more so, because China still has some dimes to turn, in contrast to its Starred and Striped Sister who can be considered broke. The trick with China is, that it is simply not very transparent. I for one, find it a very enigmatic country, and very hard to understand in the first place. Visible however, is its success. China seems to be doing very well indeed.
So here it is: Dear China, congratulations with your 60-est birthday. You went through some rough times, especially with this high-browed Mao geezer, who did manage to plunge you into several humanitarian disasters but whom you still, very thoughtfully, invite to your parties. Whatever bad tidings may have struck you in the past, you seem to be doing fine now. I wish you lots of luck in your next 60 years, and it would not surprise me at all if you were still going to be around for your 120-eth anniversary. Good for you. This shows us that your way of transition from a central guided economy towards a private one – despite its cold hearted capitalistic imprint – is less lethal for a state than the Soviet screw up proved to be. That I consider an accomplishment.
I would almost say: “Well done!” But I won’t. Too tricky. But I’ll drink one on you: Cheers!
