your topic title invites argument rather then debate, and could have been more balanced if you had framed it better. In terms of the link provided - thats a website I am not familiar with. I understand that the conversation lasted 2 hours. we dont know the context or follow up of the statement (below) made. i dont see a transcript (and dont expect to) and therefore some things will be taken out of context, in my opinion. Anyway, so the website says:
"When he called me to congratulate me on election night, he said to me what he said many times before. He said ‘Democracies cannot be sustained in the 21st century. Autocracies will run the world’. Why? ‘Things are changing so rapidly. Democracies require a consensus, and it takes time, and you don’t have the time”None of that is news and I dont see it as a direct threat from one man to another. China HAS been saying that for years and it is well documented if you care to look. Just look up any of the major Ted Talks from Chinese Businessmen or on the topic of China and you will find it. Basically what is being said is as follows: Vested interests, debate, as well as red tape and contrasting views makes it slow going to get anything done at any level of business/government. In contrast, a single mind, no debate and no red tape, enables undemocratic countries to do things faster as there is no one to oppose them. getting stuck up on drinking scandels (EU) or infidelity scandels (US) is such a waste of time and counter productive in the eyes of the chinese government. who cares about that if they are doing what needs to be done - the core job, let them have their vices (is their view).
I will give you an example:
In my work it used to be 1 person processed an activity, a 2nd person completed the activity and the work went out the door same day. That was more then 20 years ago. Nowadays there are around 20 tasks in the end to end process, carried out by 20 different areas. This has slowed things down, changing a 1 day process into a 3 month process. The cost of the activity has increased, the complexity has increased and there is now different types of things that can go wrong. Each process has its own issues:
1. 2 people - you rely on the 2 people to do the right thing
2. 20 people - you rely on your process to be cost efficient and for systemic issues in the process to be dealt with properly.
You then apply that at the national level (i.e. governments) and you see the issue:
1. single ruler - can get things done quickly but you rely on him to do the right thing (invariably they dont. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely).
2. democracy - typically can not get things done quickly, complex issues complex tasks, no easy way of getting consensus or doing the right thing, too many vested interests.
The best example today is the unified front re: Russia whereby the EU is struggling with this noting each country has its own vested interests. Another example could be legislating gun laws in america. we all know whats right deep down but as a single body the nation wont do whats right. So bringing it back to the statement: China has no roadblocks to its success, it just quite literally bulldozers or goes through obstacles. in contrast America has roadblocks to it success noting it needs consensus, it cannot bull dozer through obstacles.
So some real life examples:
China just builds its nuclear power plants. Meanwhile the hippies in Germany blocked power plants.
China just builds windmills, Meanwhile across the globe companies cant get planning permission / red tape
China just builds hospitals, in like, 2 weeks, meanwhile across the globe too much red tape, objections to planning permission etc etc.
Western society/rule is not showing any ability to keep up and therefore the chinese model will succeed unless something major happens / changes / is contrived.
This post was edited by ferdia on May 31 2022 03:40am