Russia and China resurrected free-market democracy from buzai232's blog

Russia and China resurrected free-market democracy

In an address to the House of Commons in 1947, Winston Churchill quipped that "democracy is the worst form of government, apart from all those others that have been tried".Given democracy and capitalism normally are tied at the hip, the saying was regularly adapted to describe how best to run an economy.To get more China business news, you can visit shine news official website.

China's economic revolution — with its unique combination of a centrally planned one-party state atop a market-based economy — transformed the country from an agrarian society in the 1970s to a global economic powerhouse. The sheer speed and magnitude of its feat was unprecedented.

And its neighbour, under Vladimir Putin, set about restoring Russia's economic and military place in the world after the humiliation of the Soviet empire's collapse. He ruled with an iron fist, all the while aided by a clutch of uber rich oligarchs.

For many in the West, the transformations were unnerving. And when the Western financial system teetered on the verge of a chaotic collapse in 2008, it was China that rode to the rescue, further reinforcing the notion that free-market democracy had done its dash.

Decisive action, authoritarian leaders whipping up nationalist fervour and a sudden rise in living standards and global influence — all achieved without the niceties and the need for compromise. It was a heady mixture that prompted a lurch to the right in many Western nations.Both China and Russia are floundering. Their economies are in deep trouble. Their leaders, whether through hubris or desperation, are doggedly pressing ahead regardless of the cost, and now stand accused of incredible over-reach.

In Xi Jinping's case, his refusal to accept the inadequacy of Chinese-made COVID vaccines has thrown the economy into a calamitous nosedive which threatens to undermine his own push for an extended term at the top.

For Putin, the folly of his ill-considered military adventure has backfired horribly. It has united, rather than splintered, Europe and the United States while extracting a terrible human toll on Ukraine and on the welfare of ordinary Russians.

As the West isolates Russia and retreats from China, encouraging both into each other's embrace, the costs globally will be profound.No wonder the cadres are confused. The mixed signals emanating from Beijing grew louder last week as Premier Li Keqiang issued a dire warning about the state of the economy.

"Economic indicators in China have fallen significantly and difficulties in some aspects are greater than when the epidemic hit us severely in 2020," he is reported to have told thousands of officials from local government, state-owned firms and the financial sector.

They must do more to stabilise growth, he told them.It is a message, however, very much at odds with that from Xi who has consistently urged the nation to help eliminate COVID-19 regardless of the economic costs.

But the costs are mounting. Industrial output has contracted for the first time in two years and unemployment is on the rise. The jobless rate jumped to 6.1 per cent in April, just shy of a record. Even worse, youth unemployment in urban areas has soared to 16 per cent.

After almost three years of waging a cultural revolution against property developers and technology entrepreneurs, Beijing suddenly is back-peddling. Pronouncements that housing is for shelter not investment have been replaced by urgent measures to kickstart real estate investment.
Almost a dozen large property developers, including China Evergrande, have either collapsed or are on the brink. It has prompted officials to cut interest rates, loosen property sales regulations, provide stimulus and even help home buyers.

But it is having little effect as China's economy is grinding to a halt.Hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens have been subjected to harsh lockdowns in Shanghai, Beijing and other major industrial hubs, creating bottlenecks at ports and disrupting manufacturing and services.

The reason can be sheeted home to its two homegrown vaccines and their vastly reduced ability to combat the Omicron outbreak. Add to that the poor take-up of booster shots, particularly among the elderly, in a country that has one of the world's most rapidly ageing populations.

Neither Sinovac nor Sinopharm are mRNA vaccines and the leadership has been reluctant to approve foreign-made vaccines. If that continues, the only answer will be even harsher lockdowns as the virus continues to spread.Without foreign vaccines or a massive ramp-up in booster shots, there's a stark choice: either a potentially huge death toll or an economy facing an even greater slump than two years ago.