[divbzero]

> You don't really need 750 million people when you have 1.6 billion in the first place.

Why not have both?

China should in no way have to be “Western” to be trusted internationally. But they could embrace the opportunity to be even more open and generous of a society than they have been in the recent past. They’re certainly strong enough for it.

A few things I would personally love to see:

– More transparent and consistent application of laws

– Celebrate and protect all Chinese of all diversities, not just the majority who hold the most power

– Avoid taking nationalism to an extreme

The second and third especially are serious mistakes other nations (e.g. Britain, Japan, America) have made in recent history. It would be a gift to see China avoid the same.

[arrosenberg]

One and two are basically hallmarks of western Liberalism, so this seems kind of contradictory. To my knowledge, the only historical Chinese government that we would consider Liberal is the current Taiwanese government, and even then that's a fairly recent development (30-ish years). It's not clear how the current regime could get there without wholesale changes in the power structure.

[nine_k]

Careful, this sounds close to a suggestion to change China's leadership.

Instead, they recently tightened the Party control over businesses, less Deng Xiaoping style, more Soviet style.

[free_rms]

The thing is, your perception of them on these issues is very much colored by the fact that they're not western. It permeates all coverage of them from western sources.