[FooBarWidget]

China’s system is, in fact, pretty decentralized. Local authorities have a lot of autonomy. Many people doing business in China for the first time thought they needed to talk to the central government to get things done. The central government nodded and said ‘that’s a good idea’, but then nothing happened. The businessmen are then surprised to find out that they need to talk to local authorities to actually get things done and that the central government is usually not very involved in the process. The same applies the other way around: the central government is surprised that foreigners don’t know this.

The way the Chinese bureaucracy works is that lower-level local government officials have less experience than higher-level officials. They get promotions based on results. Xi Jinping himself was, during the SARS period, the head of a province, and did very well within containing SARS within that province. It doesn’t surprise me if local Wuhan officials simply weren’t as competent in matters of disease containment than the central government.

The Chinese government is not a monolith. Comparing to 1984-style authoritarianism wouldn’t be entirely accurate either. I think it is best compared to a large corporation.

You seem to be afraid of China exporting its model. Chinese diplomats have repeatedly said that they are not interested in doing that. They say: the Chinese way of international relations is one of mutual respect: we will not impose our system on you and you will not impose your system on us. But if you voluntarily want to learn from us then you are welcome.

[cjblomqvist]

Not exporting? They might say that, but in reality they are actively promoting themselves. They also kidnap other countries citizens in third party countries and lock them up without proper trials. See their treatment of Gui Minhao (sry if spelling is off). When things collide (and they will), China will not only care about their own issues with their own people on their own turf, but actively meddle.

I'm not judging, just want to bring some balance to this "truth" you speak of...

[FooBarWidget]

Promoting themselves, sure. But that is not the same as exporting (imposing their system on others, claiming that others are evil for not following their way). Wanting to have a good image is not the same as exporting. All countries talk about themselves in a positive manner In order to uphold their image. Why shouldn’t China do the same? Nobody else is going to do it for them.

You can disagree with their claims. But that is not the same as arguing that any form of self promotion is bad.

Of course, China is far from perfect. Bad things do happen, I am not denying that. If we are speaking about balance, then I think that in western discourse the balance has tipped too much towards the ‘china is always bad in every aspect’ side, totally ignoring or actively denying the good sides, and ignoring equally bad things that happen in their own places.

Will China meddle when their interests are threatened? Of course, and so will any other country in the world.

If China’s interests conflict with yours, then it is fine to point that out. It is not fine to paint them as the bad guys just because they have conflicting interests. And even then, such issues can be resolved peacefully: China has shown that it is interested in negotiation and being reasonable. You wouldn’t believe how much land China has given up since the 40s as part of negotiation deals with other countries. It is time to stop this cold war mentality where it is us vs the evil commies who are out to conquer the world.