China

China presents the liberal democracies in the West with a problem. It had been hoped that as their economic growth surged to an outstanding extent that this would be accompanied by a more open liberal state. At the very least it was expected that China would gradually accept international norms of behaviour. Sadly this is not the case.

Rather the recent tendency has been for China to indulge in more aggressive behaviour  both domestically and overseas. The aggression in the South China sea where China has fortified and militarised formerly unoccupied islets in pursuit of its claim for control of the area is worrying. Also the West has been weak in allowing Taiwan’s status as an independent state to be submerged in a Chinese claim. The result is that Taiwan’s status is being continually questioned and it risks becoming a country without any diplomatic representation as China’s bullying is effective.

The status of the one country; two governments agreement over Hong Kong is being ignored by China as it clamps down on any form of democracy. Elections within China are barely even a pretence .. Current leader, Xi, has been elevated to president for life.

Within China itself the suppression of minorities such as the Ouigurs looks very ominous with “re-education centres” looking worrying like concentration camps under another name. In the case of Tibet it seems clear that the tactic is to swamp native Tibetans with imported Han Chinese.

China has been very aggressive in its trade policy. Chinese firms are encouraged to buy Western high tech companies and pillage their technology. This even reached a level where it was a condition of trading with China that technology is handed over although this policy is now being downplayed. It isn’t as though Chinese companies are always backward. Huawei is considered to have a lead in mobile phone technology although it is considered a security threat. There is a recommendation from Western security agencies to avoid Huawei equipment.

Because China is such a massive market with 20% of the world’s population there is an insidious effect where companies are ready to compromise principles in order to gain access. An example is Google being willing to modify its search engine to accommodate Chinese susceptibility. The internet is fiercely policed in China so that internet users don’t have access to many sites where the government wants to prevent access. The great Chinese firewall has become notorious while at the same time companies like Alibaba and TenCent have become global internet giants.

All this and much more shows that China under its present regime is totalitarian state. Essentially relative economic freedom is allowed but social and political freedom is severely circumscribed.

The economic progress in China has been absolutely incredible. The country has progressed from a backward but developing country to first rank performance in 40 years. However this economic development hasn’t been accompanied by development towards democratic norms. The question now is to what extent China should be allowed free access to organisations such as the World Trade Organisation when they are blatantly ignoring normal trade rules. Unfortunately the Trump answer is to be an even bigger rule breaker. The moral authority of the USA is being thrown away by Trump .

I’m not at all sure of the answer. I suppose the best policy is cautious engagement. One part of the problem is that the present regime is cleverly playing up a Chinese nationalism and exceptionalism. Clearly we hope that in future China will evolve a more liberal attitude although there is little sign at present- if anything the  regime is becoming more aggressive  

Lawyers are people who can write a ten thousand word document and call it a brief.