The question that remains uppermost in the mind of the people around the world is whether China would really climb to the ultimate height of world dominance , replacing USA and what would be the consequence for the world, in case this would happen.
by N.S.Venkataraman
There is no difference of opinion anywhere in the world that China is steadily surging towards world super power status. China has the second largest army in the world and in the case of several chemicals and other products, China meets around 50% of the world demand. China has consolidated itself in the technological, scientific and industrial front by successfully attracting several multinational companies from western countries and Japan to invest in China and share the technology practices with Chinese companies by way of joint venture. In the process, the technological and engineering expertise of China has considerably augmented.
There is certainly some sort of fear and apprehension amongst western countries particularly USA , about the challenges that China may pose to the USA and many other countries by it’s rapidly gaining “fire power”. This is the basic reason why the trade war between USA and China has happened with no one knowing as to whether this would end any time soon.
China has not concealed it’s expansionist intentions and desire to dominate the world in all respects. Towards this end, it has been working out it’s strategies by trying to gain control over other regions by extending loans and financial and technical collaborations and investing in other countries particularly in developing countries in Asia and Africa. The OBOR scheme (One Belt One Road) launched by China is clearly aimed at gaining super power status , out beating other countries.
The present government of China is known to have no commitment to ethical and moral values and in the concept of fairness in dealing with other countries. Today’s so called communist government in China is conspicuous by it’s self centred attitude and lack of care about what the world thinks about China, so long as it’s objectives would be met.
China’s aggression and occupation of Tibet around six decades back has clearly disturbed the conscience of the world. But, China does not care about the world opinion about the way it has occupied Tibet. But , no country dares to challenge in view of China’s huge economic and military strength and trade opportunities that it provides.
The question that remains uppermost in the mind of the people around the world is whether China would really climb to the ultimate height of world dominance , replacing USA and what would be the consequence for the world, in case this would happen.
There are no dearth of critics of China particularly in western countries and they are watching China’s activities very closely and predict China’s doom repeatedly , which have been proved to be false. The present spread of Coronavirus in China is being talked about by critics as an “event”, that could disturb the confidence of China and slow down it’s progress. Certainly, this would not happen , as the determined and dictatorial Chinese government would ensure that the cause of the virus would be identified and remedial steps would be initiated, to restore normal public health conditions. China now certainly has the scientific and technological capability to do so , without any support from other countries.
In such scenario of all round strength possessed by China, is there any possibility of China going down in the near future?
This may well happen, as Chinese government has been governing the country in a way , as if the individual Chinese citizen is simply a soulless automaton without any views and preferences and they would continue to behave like a robot. Certainly, China has not learnt from the experience of erstwhile Soviet Union and East European countries, where democratic spirit of the people inevitably asserted itself and resulted in over throwing the vice like grip of dictatorial communist governments in those regions. Symptoms of this happening in China are already evident.
The massive uprising demanding freedom in Tiananmen square cannot be forgotten as a non event. China is reported to have arrested and killed large number of Chinese people to quell the protest . Certainly, China has not learnt any lessons from the Tiananmen square uprising.
At present , the Ughur (Muslims) issue in China is still persisting, inspite of China’s aggressive methods to suppress the dissenters and deny their religious freedom.
China is now having a huge problem in Hong Kong due to the protest by locals against Chinese domination and dictatorial approach. The cry of people of Hong Kong for independent Hong Kong is now being heard . China is unable to control the situation in Hong Kong , as it is hesitant to use it’s traditional method of suppressing the freedom movement.
The latest warning signal is the rare public fury in China after death of whistle blower who was sentenced by police . China tried to control the narrative but has failed.
The negative aspect of China’s governance today is the suppression of individual freedom of the people and based on this policy approach China is being governed . The question is whether suppression of freedom for individual citizen can be a permanent situation in any country. History has shown that it has never happened and sooner or later , the demand for freedom would gain upper hand and the dictatorial regimes would be thrown out. This could well happen in China in near future.
Gradually, social media in China is becoming more assertive and courageous and to what extent can Chinese government control the social media remains to be seen.
If China were not to restore the freedom to the citizens in a democratic way, there is certainly the possibility of Chinese government facing unrest and the “elected Chinese government” feeling threatened and such scenario would destabilize the country for sometime. Then, a new China would emerge with different perspective and attitude, as it happened in erstwhile Soviet Union.
The leaders of the present Chinese government do not appear to have the wisdom to understand that denial of freedom is a method that go against the craving and nature of human beings for personal freedom.
It is likely that present Chinese government would not be able to restore the freedom to the people, as it would mean proper election and it would result in removal of the present leadership of China.
One can clearly see a situation in China sooner or later , perhaps, sooner than later, that China would weaken from within, due to dictatorial practices and oppressive governance of the present Chinese leadership.
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