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Thursday March 28, 2024

China at 70

By Abdul Sattar
October 02, 2019

This October marks the 70th anniversary of the Chinese revolution that abolished feudalism, defeated reactionary forces and forced imperialist forces to end their illegal intervention in the internal affairs of the giant country.

The country that witnessed imposed opium wars, colonial machinations and ruthless exploitation has made great strides in education, health and science and technology besides stunning the world with its dazzling economic growth and great capability in catching up with the modern world.

Before the revolution, the most populous country on the earth had been turned into a battleground for Western powers. The US, the UK, France and other hegemonic states were ruthlessly plundering the country, forcing the government to grant them unbridled freedom for imposing a free market economy, which gifted the Chinese with more than 13 million opium addicts by 1830, rising further in the next decades. By 1890, ten percent of the population was addicted to this Western gift which helped a number of rapacious traders become millionaires. The addiction emerged as a great scourge, rendering millions of able-bodied persons useless.

Other human development indicators were also abysmal but the Chinese surprised the world by battling these inhuman social conditions, raising life expectancy from just 36 years in 1949 to 76.25 in 2016, the infant mortality rate sharply decreased from 200 in 1949 to 42 in 1995. In addition, the under-five mortality rate declined from 209 in 1960 to 47 in 1995. There have been steady improvements in terms of educational attainment. The adult illiteracy rate declined from 80 percent in the early 1950s to 19 percent in 1993. Now more than 97 percent of the population is literate.

Despite the ravages of World War II and losing around 20 million people between 1937 and 1945, the Chinese economy made impressive progress. But between 1948 and 1958, the economy grew at an average rate of 6 percent per year, which is perfectly respectable for a country with such a large population. The economy continued to grow under Mao but after its liberalization, it demonstrated miracles, reaching 14.2 percent in 2007. This economic development and growth helped the country lift over 600 million people out of poverty.

One-third of the top Chinese companies are run by the state, which makes economic policies and helps execute them. The state does not grant unbridled freedom to private capital but intervenes whenever it wishes.

Even the advanced capitalist world could not lift so many millions out of poverty in such a short time as China did. It took the US more than two hundred years to emerge as a global power but China seems to have done it in a span of 70 years. The spectre of rising China is haunting the West that wants to stymie its development by provoking it on various excuses but it seems the giant dragon will achieve its global status without indulging in any conflict.

So, it seems that the story of modern China is one of success, prosperity and progress but that does not mean that everything is hunky dory in the land of more than one 1.286 billion souls. Beijing is facing a number of challenges that it must tackle to claim complete success. The biggest challenge seems to be the degradation of the environment. Some estimates claim that 1.8 million die of environmental pollution every year. Pollution also causes a loss of around $38 billion a year, besides destroying 20 billion tonnes of rice, wheat, maize and soybean.

Critics accuse Beijing of having one of the most repressive systems in the world. And curbs on religious freedoms, attempts to change the demography in Xinxiang and the alleged incarceration of the Uyghurs on the pretext of imparting education bring disrepute to the People’s Republic.

The amendment in the Chinese constitution allowing incumbent President Xi Jinping to remain on the top executive post of the country indefinitely has also provided an opportunity to anti-Beijing elements to propagate that the country is descending into a virtual dictatorship of one man. The Chinese Communist Party is the largest in the world, brimming with intelligent minds. One fails to understand why a party that claims to have millions of members cannot produce even a single leader who can replace the current president. Nelson Mandela spent more than 20 years in jail but when it came to clinging to power, he chose to get rid of it at the earliest, paving the way for others to replace him. China has been a great friend of South Africa. This friendship must teach something to the Chinese leadership.

It is true that the incumbent president is widely popular among the masses. It is a fact that he has made arduous efforts to keep country stable but to err is human. If a leader is surrounded by sycophants, it is difficult for him to make prudent decisions. Sagacity demands that the Chinese leadership should democratize the party. The party should encourage robust debate permitting its members to criticize leaders if they have committed mistakes. Lack of debate and discussion turns parties into stagnant entities.

China faces a myriad of challenges at the national and international levels but Beijing must improve its democratic credentials, human rights record and freedom index to inspire other nations on the globe.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

Email: egalitarianism444@gmail.com