China: A Democracy in Fifty Years

Currently, there is a lot of debate about China. All countries in the world tolerate China for one very simple reason. They have 1.6 billion people. That is it. No other reason. 1.6 billion people mean 1.6 million toothbrushes that they have to buy every month. It means their military is larger than most country's populations. It means money. And the world is run on money. Simple as that.

Why do the Chinese people tolerate China then? Why do a people allow their government to repress them, and take away their most basic human rights? Why do they not care about the lack of freedom of speech? Very simple reason as well. Money.

China has been at war for almost a hundred years. From the turn of the 20th Century when the Ching Dynasty was overthrown, and the Republic of China was created, China has been at war. After the official creation of the Republic of China in 1911, China was embroiled in civil war for the next twenty years. Local warlords would declare themselves the King of their region. After the last of the uprising finished in 1929, Japan promptly invaded Mancuria in 1931. This was followed by almost 20 years of War with the Japanese, as well as World War II. Immediately following WWII, another Civil War embodied China. This time it was the Communist Uprising. It wasnt until 1957 with the National Party's withdrawal to Taiwan that official war was over.

The next thirty years were one of the darkest in China's history. With the cultural revolution, the people had nothing. It wasnt until the economic reforms of Deng Xiao Ping that Chinese people, for the first time in almost 400 years, had a chance to make money.

And make money they will. For the next fifty years, the Chinese community will be interested in making money, and nothing else. Its basic human nature. For 400 years China has watched while the world developed around them. The industrial revolution in Europe meant the once technologically advanced Chinese were suddenly on the back foot. Now, they are on the rise again, and they are reveling in it, and so they should.

However, another basic human instinct is to be greedy. People always want more. At the moment, the Chinese people are pre-occupied with making money. Thats all they care about almost. However, in fifty years, as the community matures, their interests will shift. Their priorities will change. All of sudden, the human rights that seem so unimportant now will become extremely important. People will start to realise that money isnt everything. As a kid, all you want is the newest toys. As you grow up, you want more, you want love, you want relationships. The same goes for a society. Its for this reason that I will say, in fifty years time, China will become a Democracy.

Watch this space

Growing Pains - The price of Democracy

Currently in the world we hear the word "Democracy" being cried out from all fronts. The self-appointed sheriff of the world, the US, has been pushing for democracy in Afghanistan, Iraq and North Korea, to name the well-publicized few. However, some other places such as The Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Tonga, may not be getting as much publicity as the previous three are in North America, are non-the-less making huge strides towards democracy.

How does true democracy come about? We hear it being tossed around like its the best system in the world. Is it? A little known fact is that in the past 100 years, only six countries have remained democratic continuously. These are the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada and Sweden. Countries such as Germany, France, Spain have all endured patches of dictatorship or fascism at one stage or another in the past hundred years, so is it really that correct for these countries to be joining in the forceful democratization of other nations? Granted, they are not as outspoken as the US and UK, but they still do it! If they were allowed to develop democracy slowly and "naturally", why can't other countries be allowed the same luxury?

So what about the US and UK? Their "rants" on the greatness of democracy are well publicized. In fact, I believe that in some cases, they are over-publicized, but that is not the point of this discussion. The point is, the US and UK have all made numerous mistakes in their past on their path towards democratization. The UK dominated the world with the creation of the British Empire, sometimes brutally, as the Indians can attest to. The US had a period of slavery and then social segregation. In fact in the US, it wasnt until a 1973 judgment by federal judge William C . Keady that ended the segregation of black and white Americans completely. Before the US had completely ended their own racial segregation, they imposed economic sanctions on Aprtheid South Africa in 1969 with UN resolution 1761 for being "a threat to international peace and security". Hypocritical? you tell me!

It is my belief that democracy is the way to go. You can never please everyone, so the best solution is to please the majority, isn't it? However, in order for democracy to function properly, it must be allowed to develop. Forcing something onto a country will always cause resentment, even if it is something that the country wants. No matter how desperate a country is, their autonomy is most important. Iraq is a perfect example. Did the Iraqis want Saddam Hussien to leave? Of course they did. The overwhelming support for his death sentence recently attests to that fact. However, 89% of Iraqis also believe the US led coalition should pull out of Iraq(source). The same source also shows that the Iraqis believe the US "liberation army" is an "occupying force." Evolution is an integral part of human nature. One cannot learn to run before one can walk. Having democracy forced onto them is not the way to go.