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It comes up again and again in the various socialist groups, and the issue never seems to be really settled. Is China communist? Should we support China?
We are surrounded by accusations, criticism, respect and deference to and for the Middle Kingdom. Let's try to understand the country for once. Whether actions or lack of actions are good or bad is complicated to discern, as it often depends on one's perspective. Based on this, I offer the following reasoning.
As a communist, one is an anti-imperialist. Imperialism creates and created a level of proletarian exploitation and human crime that continues to hinder and even prevent the development of many nations. Between the years 1839 and 1949, China was forced into unjust imperialist treaties by Western powers. These treaties, enforced in part by the Opium Wars against Britain, forced China to cede territory, open ports to trade, and submit to Western powers. This period is called the "100 Years of Humiliation" in China. The humiliation was declared over by Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Zedong in the aftermath of World War II.
This era remains an important part of contemporary Chinese identity.
For the communist, socialist theory is an elementary companion. Equally elementary is communist practice, of which there cannot be enough. Every organized communist can participate in the theory by questioning it, trying to apply it in different hypotheses but only the state itself can carry out communist practice. In our time, these countries have become rare, yet we need them to fathom our own theories. China follows socialism, socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must follow the development of this socialism so that we can learn from its successes and failures. An implementation of socialist practice on the scale of China is unique nowadays and an enormous source of knowledge.
Not only that, we can be proud of the successes of our Chinese comrades. A highly innovative infrastructure, fighting the pandemic and everything else predominantly fighting absolute poverty. One may follow the Western perspective and focus on the failures, but one cannot close one's eyes to the successes. Especially for the western communist, these successes are a proof of the rightness of the proletarian movement.
Neo-colonialism, rise of Nazism, oppression of women and minorities, and domination of world trade remain stains of the West all over the world. Examples such as the French Colonial Tax, which forces former African colonies to pay special taxes to France. Other examples are the West's trade wars, the imposition of sanctions, which irrevocably ends in third world countries having no choice but to submit to the World Trade Organization and trade with Europe. In recent years, a new trading partner has emerged: The People's Republic of China. For the West, this really only means problems, so this may be a rather hushed topic for many. Perhaps as a result, China is seen as very threatening. That is the right of the West. We can be afraid of dependencies on China. But let me switch to the perspective of Africa. Africa has been experiencing this fear for centuries. This malaise and this impotence that has undeniably been brought to this continent by Europe. A country that stands up to the West and especially to the dollar is something very valuable for many third world countries: the option. The option to make treaties with China and not with Europe. It offers sanctioned countries a partner that can desanction them. It also includes infrastructure programs that provide study abroad opportunities. These are opportunities that can help Africa stand up and eventually act and argue on equal footing with Europe.
The reader may now ask where the criticism of China is.
In my opinion, this criticism can be found every day in the Western media. The skeptical, perhaps even frightening perspective can be found without effort by the German. Important for the communist, however, is the understanding of several perspectives and also the interest in them. In my opinion, finding positive, hopeful perspectives about China has become very costly. This is logical because China remains a threat to the capitalist and imperialist West. Every socialist is an enemy of capitalism and imperialism, and so our task is to be even more precise in our research and to consider even more perspectives from the world's diverse cultures. The issue of China has reached such a relevance that every accusation must be analyzed very precisely before believing it. On the other hand, China must not be seen as the sole savior of the world, their decisions are happening right now and so they must be understood and criticized as necessary.
In the end, you are judged by your actions and that counts for China as well. For the communist, this starts with fighting poverty (I notice how amusingly high I set the bar here) and stops with anti-imperialist activities. Whether China is socialist, whether it passes for communism, or whatever one titles the Chinese government as. Based on China's past and present actions, every communist must support China.