China is the world’s most populous country with over 1.4 billion people and since the
introduction of economic reforms in the late 70s the country has seen incredible growth.
Currently China is the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP, just behind the US.
China is also the world's largest manufacturing economy and exporter of goods. Who doesn’t
own something with a label marked ‘Made in China’? It is also the world's fastest-growing
consumer market and second-largest importer of goods.
In short, China's economy is now so large that it can and does have a huge influence
on the global economy.
China is also a recognised military power; it has both nuclear weapons and the world's
largest standing army. It spends billions on its defense budget - only the US spends more.
China sits on the United Nations and has become
an increasingly powerful voice in international politics.
China is important because China is emerging as a global superpower that is rivaling and
challenging the US.
China is a single party state; it is governed by the Communist Party of China.
Theoretically the three main institutions of power in China are the Party, the military
and the state but in practice the party controls all institutions so it is the leader of the
Communist Party, i.e. the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, who holds
ultimate power and authority.
In 1912 the Republic of China was established, ending thousands of years of dynastic rule.
But a number of internal power struggles followed and the country became fractured.
In 1919 the May the 4th movement began - a series of student protests against the Chinese
government’s weak reaction to the Treaty of Versailles that was drawn up at the end
of World War I. The treaty gave Japan land that was previously Chinese owned.
It was from that movement that the Communist Party of China was born.
The Chinese Nationalist Party, also known as the Kuomintang and the then much smaller
Communist Party of China formed an alliance to defeat regionalism and to unite China.
However ideological differences between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party led to
a civil war that lasted intermittently between 1927 and 1949.
The two political factions did form a loose alliance against Japanese invasion in 1937
but after defeating the Japanese the civil war recommenced.
The Communist Party won a resounding victory and the Nationalist Party retreated to Taiwan.
On the 1st of October 1949, Mao Zedong - a revered communist revolutionary - declared
China the People’s Republic of China, replacing the Republic of China
and displacing the Nationalist Party.
Over the next few decades international recognition shifted from the Republic of China to the
People’s Republic of China and in 1971 the People’s Republic of China was admitted
to the United Nations in place of the Republic of China.
In 1957, Mao launched a campaign known as the Great Leap Forward that aimed to transform
China's economy from an agricultural one to an industrial one. The campaign was a disaster
and led to the deadliest famine in history
and the estimated deaths of between 20 to 45 million people.
In 1966, to bolster his diminished power as a result of the failed Great Leap Forward,
Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution.
The Cultural Revolution was a program designed to root out capitalism and counter-revolutionary
elements in society - all of which were deemed a threat to Chinese communism.
Broadly, communism envisions a society where the means of production - i.e land, natural
resources, factories etc. - are all owned by the collective and the fruits of the labour
are shared out according to need.
Communism is offered up as an alternative to the capitalist system where products and
services are owned and provided by individuals who get to keep the profits.
The Cultural Revolution led to a decade of unrest for China, with millions of people
being persecuted and suffering a wide range of abuses.
After Mao’s death reformers gradually dismantled the Maoist policies
associated with the Cultural Revolution.
In the late 70s Deng Xiaoping - the then most senior politician in the Communist Party and
the de facto leader of China - led the country through wide ranging economic reforms which
opened up China to foreign investment and the global market, leading to China’s notable
rapid economic growth.
Political theorists argue that today’s Communist Party of China no longer strictly adheres
to the principles of communism that they initially adopted
and that now they have taken on some capitalist strategies that
have allowed the country to develop so swiftly.
The political status of Taiwan - officially the Republic of China - remains ambiguous.
After the Kuomingtan fled to the island they maintained that they were the legitimate government
of China.
In 1992 the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China agreed that Chinese unification
was the ultimate goal but over time other political movements in Taiwan have emerged,
expressing a desire for Taiwanese independence.
Most international organizations in which the People’s Republic of China participates
either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or only allows it to participate as a non-state actor.
In practice Taiwan operates very much like an independent country with its own government,
president, military etc. Many countries maintain unofficial ties with Taiwan through representative
offices that act as de facto embassies and consulates.
However the People’s Republic of China remains hostile to the idea of Taiwanese independence,
seeing the island as an inseparable part of Chinese territory.
Tibet is a historical region within modern day China, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau
and it is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people.
Within Tibet is the Tibet Autonomous Region
where much of the current debate around Tibet centres.
Until the 50s, Tibet for all intents and purposes had independant rule under the authority of
the Dalai Lama - the foremost spiritual leader of the Yellow Hat school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Buddhism is the dominant religion of Tibet.
After the successful Communist revolution in China, the People's Republic of China marched
into Tibet and incorporated Tibet under Chinese sovereignty.
They installed the - then teenage - fourteenth Dalai Lama as the new leader of Tibet and a Seventeen
Point Agreement was signed, whereby the Tibetan representatives affirmed Chinese sovereignty.
The agreement was meant to guarantee Tibetan regional autonomy and religious freedom but
many felt that over time the People's Republic of China systematically undermined Tibetan
culture and way of life and in 1959 there was a failed Tibetan uprising which ended
with over 80,000 Tibetans - including the Dalai Lama being exiled to Northern India.
The Dalai Lama has since repudiated the Seventeen Point Agreement, and although he believes
that Tibet should remain part of China he seeks greater freedoms and autonomy for the
Tibetan people.
The Communist party however is unlikely to loosen its grip on Tibet as it sees the region
as being integral to Chinese national security and prosperity.
Tibet has an almost impregnable natural land border in the Himalayan mountain range, the
Tibetan plateau also stores mineral reserves that are worth billions of dollars and finally
many of the major river systems in Asia originate in Tibet which gives the People's Republic
of China control over much of the water in Asia.
As the competing global superpowers, and with their economies inextricably linked, the US
and China have an interesting relationship.
Ideologically the countries are poles apart with the US being a vocal proponent of democratic
capitalism, which describes a system that supports a capitalist economy subject to control
by democratically elected political institutions.
It is important to note that these ideologies are ways of organising societies and are neither
good nor bad - it is the real world implementation and resulting real world difficulties that
cause nations on either side to view the doctrines with suspicion.
China and the US have enough shared interests to mean that despite a wariness stemming from
differences in culture and ideology and their rivalry to become the dominant power in the
Pacific, the two countries still aim to maintain a strong economic partnership.
This does not mean that the relationship is immune to disagreements however, as illustrated
by the trade wars between the two countries.
If the US feels that China isn’t allowing American firms to trade goods freely in China
and are favouring Chinese companies then it can put tariffs - essentially a form of
taxation - on Chinese goods in the US, which makes those goods more expensive and in theory
pushes American companies and consumers to look for alternatives.
However China too, can and have retaliated by putting their own tariffs on US goods.
These trade wars harm both economies and the global market.
The US has also become increasingly suspicious of Chinese technology and the potential for
the Chinese to not only dominate the future technological infrastructure of western countries
but to also commit possible cyber espionage if they so choose.
After World War II the Korean peninsula was divided
into two zones which eventually became the communist dictatorship North Korea and the
democratic South Korea.
China has historical ties with North Korea, rooted in their shared communist ideology,
and China has been a long-term ally of North Korea.
Similarly the United States is a long-term ally of South Korea.
North Korea is far from a success story when contrasted with South Korea.
Under totalitarian rule and a collectivist economy it has fallen into extreme poverty,
and the population has to deal with mass starvation.
North Korea is also accused of having one of the worst Human Rights records in the modern
world owing to the extreme restrictions placed on individual freedoms.
And North Korea also has nuclear weapons which is why the international community regard
the regime with considerable unease.
China however continues to remain publicly supportive of it’s troublesome neighbour
as the communist party places high priority on maintaining stability in the peninsula.
An outbreak of war and a forced regime change would mean - an influx of refugees into China,
possible contamination from North Korea’s chemical weapons
and perhaps an ensuing cross-border terrorist conflict.
China also doesn’t want the US’s influence growing in it’s back garden via its close
relationship with South Korea.
China is currently building man-made islands on the Spratly Islands in the South China
Sea in order to lay claim to territory that many in the international community don’t
believe China has a right to.
Countries including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia all have competing claims in
that area of the South China Sea.
China justifies its actions by pointing to historical maps called the nine-dash maps
which mark out a huge territory in that body of water as belonging to China.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea gives countries exclusive rights over
the sea 200 miles from the country’s shore. Most of the other countries claims on the
South China Sea stems from that convention but China ignores those claims.
The Philippines have even taken China to court over this and the international tribunal at
the Hague have ruled in favour of the Philippines.
The US also supports their longtime ally - the Philippines - by sending out US navy ships
and aircrafts to the disputed territory.
Despite China’s warnings the US continues these exercises to assert their stance on the dispute.
China wants this territory in the South China Sea because not only is it incredibly rich
in natural resources but because
roughly a third of the world’s shipping trade passes through it.
However no one wants all out war so the situation remains complicated but contained.
In recent years, China has been investing billions of dollars in Africa in exchange
for political good will and with a view to shifting it’s cheap labour intensive industries
over to Africa as China’s demographic becomes more and more middle class; and cheap labour
isn’t so readily available and isn’t so cheap.
China has funded large scale infrastructure projects in the continent
including the building of railways, dams, and factories.
Africa also has vast untapped natural resources which the Chinese are helping
the Africans exploit.
Critics in the west have warned Africa to be careful of what they view to be a potential
repeat of the colonial strategy of countries going to lesser developed places and exploiting
their natural resources and labour forces for their own gain.
But despite these warnings Africa and China continue to form a strong alliance as Asia’s
global super power recognises and invests in Africa’s potential.
Africa is not the only place China is helping to build and fund infrastructure - all across
the globe, the same thing is happening and this is part of China’s Belt and Road initiative.
These projects are designed to make it easier for China to trade with the world but it’s
also a high risk strategy.
China is pumping money via loans into often unstable and much poorer countries which means
defaulting on these loans is a real possibility - if this were to happen then China faces
a huge debt crisis.
On the other hand, China has found a new way of allowing countries to repay their debt
- the countries are able to lease control of the projects to China
for a specified number of years.
This give China vast amounts of control and influence.
China stands accused of multiple human rights violations.
The government allows no open challenge to their exclusive political power and in 1989,
in response to a pro democracy demonstration in Tiananmen Square the Chinese government
ordered a crackdown which led to the massacre of hundreds if not thousands of civilians.
The Chinese government also has a negative attitude toward religions, seeing them as yet another
threat to their absolute power. Religious oppression is not uncommon and China has notorious
re-education camps where authorities reportedly hold hundreds of thousands of minority Muslims.
China claims that the detention centres are a bid to counter extremism and terrorism however
many in the international community have chracterised the jail-like camps to concentration camps
and have said that China is in the process of commiting cultural genocide.
Activists who speak out against the Communist Party and who lobby for human rights can be
harassed by the government, placed under house arrest and in some cases they can even mysteriously
disappear altogether.
Press freedoms are also severely restricted in China with news agencies only allowed to
report on state approved subjects.
Most western media outlets and social media platforms are blocked by what is dubbed, China’s Great
Firewall. There are some sites which are allowed but only under tight supervision. Search results
for terms such as ‘democracy’ and ‘revolt’ are also blocked.
Edited narratives on historical events such as the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen
Square massacre are pushed by the government and as a result many Chinese remain in the
dark about the actual devastation and fallout that arose from these events.
And thus we come to the end of our video.
This is meant to provide an objective overview of what is happening in China and Chinese
politics today. It is neither for nor against China but instead aims to give people who
wonder why China is so much in the news some context.
As always I hope you enjoyed this video and please subscribe to LondonCityGirl for more
educational and interesting videos from me.