China is capitalist. Explicitly so. They plan to be "socialist with Chinese characteristics" someday, but they are on a slow roadmap towards that, using the Dengian philosophy of "a cat that catches mice is a good cat" - that is, capitalism allows them to generate capital which can be used to alleviate the extreme poverty that has racked the nation for centuries. The idea is some day they will definitely do something about all those billionaires in high rises in Beijing and Shanghai, honest, but in the meantime, capitalism suits them just fine. Capitalism and democracy are not mutually inclusive.
If you don't understand the people or systems you hate, you can never defeat them.
Of course they are on the road to socialism, that has never been disputed. But the victories for the common people that the article highlights - increased social safety nets, the eradication of abject poverty, welfare - are only possible due to the generation of wealth caused by Deng's capitalist reforms. China is currently capitalist and will continue to use capitalism to secure a better world position until they no longer need it. At that point, they will have a strong socialist infrastructure solidified under decades of state capitalism.
You don't need to own land for capital to be generated and flow. Being forced to rent land puts a cap on things, obviously, but fettered capitalism is not the same as socialism, a mistake I see constantly made on all sides of the political map. Being on the road is not the same as being at a destination.
Also, by posting this article you all but proved that horseshoe theory is just a fucking circle, but that's a discussion for a different day.
China is capitalist. Explicitly so. They plan to be "socialist with Chinese characteristics" someday, but they are on a slow roadmap towards that, using the Dengian philosophy of "a cat that catches mice is a good cat" - that is, capitalism allows them to generate capital which can be used to alleviate the extreme poverty that has racked the nation for centuries. The idea is some day they will definitely do something about all those billionaires in high rises in Beijing and Shanghai, honest, but in the meantime, capitalism suits them just fine. Capitalism and democracy are not mutually inclusive.
If you don't understand the people or systems you hate, you can never defeat them.
https://www.greanvillepost.com/2022/08/30/the-myth-of-chinese-capitalism-2/
Of course they are on the road to socialism, that has never been disputed. But the victories for the common people that the article highlights - increased social safety nets, the eradication of abject poverty, welfare - are only possible due to the generation of wealth caused by Deng's capitalist reforms. China is currently capitalist and will continue to use capitalism to secure a better world position until they no longer need it. At that point, they will have a strong socialist infrastructure solidified under decades of state capitalism.
You don't need to own land for capital to be generated and flow. Being forced to rent land puts a cap on things, obviously, but fettered capitalism is not the same as socialism, a mistake I see constantly made on all sides of the political map. Being on the road is not the same as being at a destination.
Also, by posting this article you all but proved that horseshoe theory is just a fucking circle, but that's a discussion for a different day.
...wonderfully coherent observation, nicely stated and framed....