HONG KONG: Back in 2009, in the midst of the financial crisis, some Chinese leaders issued a stark warning: If the economy failed to grow by at least 8 per cent a year then the ensuing social unrest could spiral out of control and eventually topple the Communist party.
The countrys state-owned banks, local government and companies responded with an orgy of debt and infrastructure construction, which allowed Beijing to overshoot its target and helped pull the world out of its dip.
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In the first quarter of this year, the worlds second largest economy shrank by 6.8 per cent, its first contraction since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.
Unemployment is soaring and growth stuttering as China attempts to be the only large country that achieves total elimination, rather than mere mitigation, of coronavirus.
READ: China's delayed parliament to focus on reviving coronavirus-hit economy
READ: Commentary: What's really behind the China coronavirus cover-up theory
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NO REVOLUTION THIS TIME
Yet no Chinese leaders are warning of revolution this time, even though the economic situation is far worse than it was in 2009. Despite sharp criticism of the early handling of COVID-19, they are right to be more confident.
The concern about unrest stems from an implicit bargain Beijing offered its people in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident: Stay away from politics in exchange for ever-rising prosperity.
By embracing capitalism, the Communist party was able to meet its end of the bargain. It achieved high levels of “output legitimacy” by improving peoples daily lives.
But behind closed doors, Chinese leaders have worried for decades that their legitimacy rests too much on rapid growth and wondered what will happen when the expansion comes to an end.
FILE PHOTO: A float carrying a portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping moves through Tiananmen Square during the parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of People's Republic of China, on its National Day in Beijing, China October 1, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, preparations for this inevitability have ramped up and the Communist party is arguably in a better position to handle it than at any time in recent decades, despite the pandemic and the economic downturn.
Mr Xis construction of a vast techno-security state makes it very difficult to imagine any kind of grassroots organised resistance.
Open displays of anger towards the governments handling of the virus peaked in February. Although there have been sporadic calls on the Internet for political reform since then, the authorities have moved quickly to arrest and silence their authors.
READ: Commentary: COVID-19 unites China in fear, grief and anger
A couple of years ago I interviewed a former leader of the Savak – the Shah of Irans feared secret police – in the US, where he still lives in hiding at an undisclosed location, with a price on his head.
He remains certain that if the Shah had taken his advice and resolutely crushed the 1978 uprising in its early stages, the Iranian revolution would not have succeeded.
Mr Xi seems to have taken that lesson to heart: Whatever else you say about him, he cannot be accused of being irresolute on quashing dissent.
READ: Commentary: Chinas rise this time is different
READ: Commentary: This may be the end of Hong Kong as we know it
RURAL AND URBAN CITIZENS ALIKE UNLIKELY TO REBEL
Nonetheless, Chinas spike in unemployment is a serious concern for its leaders. The official unemployment rate is just 5.9 per cent but government statistics do not capture most of the migrant workers who have lost their jobs during this crisis.
Independent estimates put the real unemployment rate as high as 20.5 per cent.
These tens of millions of unemployed migrants do not pose a potent threat to stability because of a two-tier citizenship structure that Beijing refuses to reform, at least partly for this reason.
In China, all citizens are designated at birth with either an urban or a rural “household registration” that is very hard to change. The vast majority of internal migrant workers are peasant farmers who travel to the cities to work in factories and restaurants or drive delivery vehicles.
Yu Jinting, 26, from Baoding in Hebei province, works at a construction site in Beijing, China July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee
HONG KONG: Back in 2009, in the midst of the financial crisis, some Chinese leaders issued a stark warning: If the economy failed to grow by at least 8 per cent a year then the ensuing social unrest could spiral out of control and eventually topple the Communist party.
The countrys state-owned banks, local government and companies responded with an orgy of debt and infrastructure construction, which allowed Beijing to overshoot its target and helped pull the world out of its dip.
Advertisement
Advertisement
In the first quarter of this year, the worlds second largest economy shrank by 6.8 per cent, its first contraction since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.
Unemployment is soaring and growth stuttering as China attempts to be the only large country that achieves total elimination, rather than mere mitigation, of coronavirus.
READ: China's delayed parliament to focus on reviving coronavirus-hit economy
READ: Commentary: What's really behind the China coronavirus cover-up theory
Advertisement
Advertisement
NO REVOLUTION THIS TIME
Yet no Chinese leaders are warning of revolution this time, even though the economic situation is far worse than it was in 2009. Despite sharp criticism of the early handling of COVID-19, they are right to be more confident.
The concern about unrest stems from an implicit bargain Beijing offered its people in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident: Stay away from politics in exchange for ever-rising prosperity.
By embracing capitalism, the Communist party was able to meet its end of the bargain. It achieved high levels of “output legitimacy” by improving peoples daily lives.
But behind closed doors, Chinese leaders have worried for decades that their legitimacy rests too much on rapid growth and wondered what will happen when the expansion comes to an end.
FILE PHOTO: A float carrying a portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping moves through Tiananmen Square during the parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of People's Republic of China, on its National Day in Beijing, China October 1, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, preparations for this inevitability have ramped up and the Communist party is arguably in a better position to handle it than at any time in recent decades, despite the pandemic and the economic downturn.
Mr Xis construction of a vast techno-security state makes it very difficult to imagine any kind of grassroots organised resistance.
Open displays of anger towards the governments handling of the virus peaked in February. Although there have been sporadic calls on the Internet for political reform since then, the authorities have moved quickly to arrest and silence their authors.
READ: Commentary: COVID-19 unites China in fear, grief and anger
A couple of years ago I interviewed a former leader of the Savak – the Shah of Irans feared secret police – in the US, where he still lives in hiding at an undisclosed location, with a price on his head.
He remains certain that if the Shah had taken his advice and resolutely crushed the 1978 uprising in its early stages, the Iranian revolution would not have succeeded.
Mr Xi seems to have taken that lesson to heart: Whatever else you say about him, he cannot be accused of being irresolute on quashing dissent.
READ: Commentary: Chinas rise this time is different
READ: Commentary: This may be the end of Hong Kong as we know it
RURAL AND URBAN CITIZENS ALIKE UNLIKELY TO REBEL
Nonetheless, Chinas spike in unemployment is a serious concern for its leaders. The official unemployment rate is just 5.9 per cent but government statistics do not capture most of the migrant workers who have lost their jobs during this crisis.
Independent estimates put the real unemployment rate as high as 20.5 per cent.
These tens of millions of unemployed migrants do not pose a potent threat to stability because of a two-tier citizenship structure that Beijing refuses to reform, at least partly for this reason.
In China, all citizens are designated at birth with either an urban or a rural “household registration” that is very hard to change. The vast majority of internal migrant workers are peasant farmers who travel to the cities to work in factories and restaurants or drive delivery vehicles.
Yu Jinting, 26, from Baoding in Hebei province, works at a construction site in Beijing, China July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee
