[unityByFreedom]

> At that point China is going to need to really think things out from basic principles and decide what sort of country it wants to be over the long term. That will take a great deal of intelligent, independent thinking. Alas, that is just what Xi Jinping is doing his best to stamp out.

I'd take the other side for a moment and suggest he may be doing what he thinks is best for unity in China.

Democracy isn't something you can just slap on top of anything. It starts from the ground up because it is built by the people.

Any form of government is always going to be concerned about some form of popular uprising. Negative sentiment isn't good for Trump, and it wouldn't be good for Xi either.

I agree with you that China needs to think things from basic principles. I'm just not sure whether my ideas about applying these within China are more or less correct than Xi's. Ultimately I think that's really up to the Chinese people.

On the one hand, democracy in China seems inevitable as their population grows more wealthy and has free time to demand a better life. On the other, it seems the nationalist side will always be able to say that any attempts to achieve democracy are the result of foreign agents. Perhaps China will achieve democracy when the West's fails. That would be a sight.