Does the PRC advertise in Newsweek? Because this piece by Rana Foroohar sure reads like a retread from the Xinhua news service. The article is titled "China's Economy Stays out of the Red," and it includes phrases like "China is governed by a radical pragmatism" and "[i]n dire economic times (like now), China's bureaucrats can pick from traditional Western market tools, but also from their unique arsenal." The bottom line, according to Foroohar: "the only major economy that's likely to show any growth at all this year is the most closely controlled one of all."
This has to be the most vapid statement I've read in a long time. Leave aside the concern that there have long been questions regarding the official economic statistics released by Beijing, and that it is notoriously difficult to measure the complicated and shadowy Chinese economy. China's GDP may well grow in 2009 - but even Foroohar acknowledges that such growth will be "down from the double-digit pace of recent years." A significant reduction in growth as China's export sector declines as a result from lack of demand? That sounds like a recession with Chinese characteristics.
Indeed, China's leaders - "mostly engineers, trained to build from a plan," according to Foroohar - seem worried about the incipient downturn, as they have been unusually frank and direct about the steps they feel are necessary to forestall a severe contraction. You can read more about Chinese economic troubles here.
The most amazing thing about this piece is that it treats China as a country more or less like the United States and Europe, except with more government intervention in the economy. That is not the case. "The radical pragmatism" that Faroohar says governs China is the radical pragmatism of a one-party state that does anything it can to maintain power. That party manipulates China's currency, imprisons dissidents, heavily regulates speech and religion, degrades the environment, and supports thugs like Sudanese dictator Omar Bashir. Is it any wonder, then, that as the Chinese economy slows, the pace of civil unrest quickens?
What's more, Foroohar has the audacity to conclude that "the Chinese people still believe in their system - at least for now." I wonder how Foroohar arrived at this conclusion, since it is hard to measure public opinion in a country where expressions of opposition to the state get you thrown in jail. Granted, many Chinese are proud of their achievements as a nation over the last three decades and look forward to the day when China is truly a great power. But no doubt there are just as many Chinese, and certainly plenty of Uighurs, Tibetans, and others living under Chinese domination, who think that the Chinese "system" does not adequately respect the rights of man. Two thousand such people, in fact, recently signed Charter 08, calling for political and civil reform in China.
But I guess they don't get mentioned in Newsweek.
