I see we read the same article and came to very different conclusions.
“Maintaining China’s extraordinary economic growth, which provides legitimacy for sweeping party rule, is a high-wire act that will only get harder.”
unfortunately the maintenance of this extraordinary growth is via bubble economics. and remember, they can make up their economic numbers, so no one on the outside can really decipher how bad things are.
“Meanwhile, in the United States, sluggish growth is the new normal. And American democracy is exhibiting worrisome symptoms: declining civic engagement, institutionalized corruption, and widespread lack of trust in politics.”
the biggest difference here is one government relies on high growth for its legitimacy. and if you read the “problems” given for the US, it turns out every single point mentioned are realities within China. There is no civic engagement, there is widespread corruption, and lack of trust in politics is a given.
Going back to the Thucydides’ Trap. China’s highwire act does have a “safety net” of nationalism the CCP perpetuates and plan to flame in the event of economic disaster.
Can you imagine if 70% of all of our TV shows and movies are all war related? and the bulk are all against Russia or Muslims?
In the event China does utilize that nationalism safety net to maintain its legitimacy, is the US willing to check China? Or will political appeasement win, which further the flame of such nationalism.
