There may be different reasons for all the positive reports, such as – pointing with the eyes of the political leadership (without ranking) – at<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0 a successful management of the corona crisis – also for the economy<\/p>\n
2) \u00a0the successful RCEP agreement on (gradual) free trade, driven by China<\/p>\n
3)\u00a0 the obvious possibilities of improved ties to other Asian countries<\/p>\n
4)\u00a0 the strong high-tech development, particularly of IT but also the moon landing<\/p>\n
5)\u00a0 the official end of poverty, and particularly<\/p>\n
6)\u00a0 meeting the marketing needs of the Communist Party (CP) for the celebration of the 100 year anniversary of its foundation in 1921.<\/p>\n
More examples could be mentioned. In each of these six examples, one can find strategic objectives, both in the short and the longer run. Contrary to most other nations in the world, China manages to apply both short-term and long-term thinking simultaneously.<\/p>\n
I have wondered for a long time why this is the case and found two probable reasons for this. The first one may be linked to China\u2019s Confucian roots. The second one can be explained by China\u2019s authoritarian political system, meaning that a democratically elected government by nature is more short-sighted \u2013 very much in line with the research of Nobel Prize winner James Buchanan who focused on politicians’ major driving force: to do everything to be re-elected.<\/p>\n
Recent positive contributions to the anniversary particularly important<\/strong><\/p>\n Getting back to the initially mentioned examples of currently even more positive reporting than usual by Chinese media, more detailed exemplifying may be added.<\/p>\n Ad 1<\/strong>)\u00a0 Looking into the official corona numbers, China had been very successful in fighting covid-19, also in absolute terms much better than, for example, Sweden. We know, of course, that China locked down the country very drastically \u2013 and particularly the city of Wuhan. However, since China\u2019s history of transparency and statistical trustworthiness hardly had been encouraging during the years, there is no chance of judging the accuracy of the previously reported numbers. The total official numbers could be roughly correct, slightly wrong or very wrong. However, at least in the past two or three quarters, Chinese corona numbers should have developed more correctly. If not, digital sources would have informed the rest of the world.<\/p>\n Ad 2<\/strong>)\u00a0 The free trade agreement RCEP between 13 Asian countries plus Australia and New Zeeland a few weeks ago made the Chinese very proud. This was a strategic masterpiece by China\u2019s political leaders who recognized the great chance of a major cross-border trade deal after the withdrawal of the United States and President Trump from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in January 2017, based on Trump\u2019s misleading dogma of \u201cAmerica first\u201d. This unwise decision made China to act and to outsmart the United States. RCEP will certainly be presented as an outstanding example of great international recognition for the People\u2019s Republic.<\/p>\n Ad 3<\/strong>)\u00a0 China is, of course, the leading country in the RCEP area with its totally 2.2 billion people population. This position will increase China\u2019s influence both regionally and globally \u2013 ceteris paribus at the expense of United States and Europe. Recently, China, Japan and South Korea were described as the main driving forces for the RCEP agreement \u2013 a position that all three countries regard as favorable, de facto meaning a further strengthening of China in especially East Asia. A good example for the Chinese leadership to explain successful international cooperation and influential progress – particularly via media – can be found, for example, in https:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/a\/202012\/01\/WS5fc5d8fba31024ad0ba991ad.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ad 4<\/strong>) \u00a0In recent years, CP leader and President of China, Xi Jinping, could be noted many times when addressing the decisive importance of technological progress, \u00a0positive changes in the value-added chain and quality improvements, see below https:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/a\/202012\/02\/WS5fc6c3eaa31024ad0ba992b0.html<\/a>. Without major improvements in these areas, China has no change to replace its non-competitive products and exports \u2013 and, consequently, create better conditions for the economic, social and environmental future. Positive news that currently are spread among many others are excellent international IT rankings and what officials call the \u201cleapfrog development\u201d of IT, the recent moon landing not to forget.<\/p>\n Ad 5<\/strong>)\u00a0 China has recently officially declared the end of poverty which certainly is a good topic for headlines in media https:\/\/news.cgtn.com\/news\/2020-11-23\/China-eliminates-absolute-poverty-one-month-before-schedule-VEp8VAJJS0\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n It should be not underestimated that this development probably can be regarded as the most positive historical achievement of the CP during the past 100 years. However, the increasing uneven distribution of income remains a burdening problem.<\/p>\n Ad 6)<\/strong>\u00a0 Here we have the everything else outstanding explanation for China\u2019s current\u00a0 increase of its success marketing: the forthcoming CP-jubilee year of 2021.<\/p>\n Hubert Fromlet<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>Affiliate Professor at the School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University
\nEditorial board<\/a><\/p>\n