China: Mixture of Capitalism, Fascism & Riots

Western capitalism is battering at the Great Wall of China with foreign investment in an attempt to get a piece of the Chinese action. The Chinese are churning out vast amounts of exportable goods. One article on the World Socialist Website stated,

The combination of plentiful cheap labour, low tax, low cost infrastructures and brutal police-state repression made China one of the most attractive investment sites for transnational corporations.

But all is not well with the Chinese populous. The NY Times reported,

By the government's tally there were 74,000 riots or other significant public disturbances in 2004…

Until this week, the Chinese authorities did not resort to deadly force when putting down the social unrest. Read about it here, here & here. But, that has changed as authorities opened fire and killed 10-20 or more protesting citizens. Read it here and here.

China and India are expected to be the future’s biggest economic engines requiring vast amounts of resources to feed the expansion. India is a democracy with a history of freedom, which will bode well for it’s future growth. China, on the other hand, is a ruthless fascist state without such a history. The gaps between the Chinese haves and have nots is growing and social unrest is plentiful. It remains to be seen whether the Chinese authorities can successfully marry capitalism to the socialist state. 74,000 riots in one year does not bode well for the Chinese status quo.