good thing - he will be able to finish all planned his reforms
That presumes that his planned reforms are in fact a "good thing". That's possible. It's possible that they aren't, too... and, if that turns out to be the case, nobody can stop him.
China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
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Re: China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
#12I don't really understand why power obsessed people don't seem to recognize that at some point retirement is graceful. (Thinking of Robert Mugabe, for example.)
Fear that the new power won't overlook the misdeeds they (the old power) undertook while in power.
I've heard someone say that Putin is at the same time the ruler and prisoner of Kremlin for exactly this reason.
Re: China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
#13Once again it seems to me that Ai Wei Wei's quote about China is pertinent:
“Can China be a global power? I don’t think so. It can gain an advantage, that’s true. But it doesn’t have soul. It doesn’t have heart. It doesn’t trust its own people. So it has no self-identity in the sense that it has never accepted human rights as common values. No freedom of speech, no independent judicial system. If those don’t exist, how can you have creativity? How can you be a country? So forget about China. China is an illusion. It’s there, it’s large. But nobody can tell you what it is.”
We live so much with representational democracy - so close to it - that we take it entirely for granted. We imagine that our situation would be somehow replicable with other forms of government. That we could have a benign autocracy and everything could be the same. People talk about China as if they're just a slightly different version of us. But instead of a mirror or an aspiration they ought to be a warning.
Re: China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
#14I don't really understand why power obsessed people don't seem to recognize that at some point retirement is graceful. (Thinking of Robert Mugabe, for example.)
Lee Kuan Yew might be the best recent example of things done right. The trick is becoming responsibility-obsessed (though you might have to endure mischaracterizations of power-obsessed), so the real question is whether Xi is going to be responsible with power or not? The only metric I have as an outsider is overall country success. China's done very well over the past few decades, we'll see if it continues.
Re: China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
#15Once again it seems to me that Ai Wei Wei's quote about China is pertinent: “Can China be a global power? I don’t think so. It can gain an advantage, that’s true. But it doesn’t have soul. It doesn’t have heart. It doesn’t trust its own people. So it has no self-identity in the sense that it has never accepted human rights as common values. No freedom of speech, no independent judicial system. If those don’t exist, h…
"It doesn’t have heart. It doesn’t trust its own people. So it has no self-identity in the sense that it has never accepted human rights as common values. No freedom of speech, no independent judicial system."
All of this was true of the USSR and yet it was a global super-power for half a century.
Re: China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
#16Once again it seems to me that Ai Wei Wei's quote about China is pertinent: “Can China be a global power? I don’t think so. It can gain an advantage, that’s true. But it doesn’t have soul. It doesn’t have heart. It doesn’t trust its own people. So it has no self-identity in the sense that it has never accepted human rights as common values. No freedom of speech, no independent judicial system. If those don’t exist, h…
> Can China be a global power? I don’t think so.
China arguably is a global power today. I think what Ai Weiwei means is if China can be a long-lasting empire like the Roman or the British Empire.
Also, this reminds me of the classic Upton Sinclair quote: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." The man being Weiwei in this case.
Re: China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
#17Paywall someone wanna translate?
Re: China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
#18Once again it seems to me that Ai Wei Wei's quote about China is pertinent: “Can China be a global power? I don’t think so. It can gain an advantage, that’s true. But it doesn’t have soul. It doesn’t have heart. It doesn’t trust its own people. So it has no self-identity in the sense that it has never accepted human rights as common values. No freedom of speech, no independent judicial system. If those don’t exist, h…
"It doesn’t have heart. It doesn’t trust its own people. So it has no self-identity in the sense that it has never accepted human rights as common values. No freedom of speech, no independent judicial system." All of this was true of the USSR and yet it was a global super-power for half a century.
It was a military super-power, yes, but that was about it. With the possible exception of having some great classical-style composers, it otherwise was not an inspiring country. You sided with them to have big weapons on your side, not for any other reason.
Re: China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fear that the new power won't overlook the misdeeds they (the old power) undertook while in power.
I've heard someone say that Putin is at the same time the ruler and prisoner of Kremlin for exactly this reason.
I've read something that Yeltsin resigned to Putin in exchange for forgiveness, whatever that entails: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin#Resignation_2
Re: China's Xi could rule for life, as two-term limit set to be scrapped
#20Once again it seems to me that Ai Wei Wei's quote about China is pertinent: “Can China be a global power? I don’t think so. It can gain an advantage, that’s true. But it doesn’t have soul. It doesn’t have heart. It doesn’t trust its own people. So it has no self-identity in the sense that it has never accepted human rights as common values. No freedom of speech, no independent judicial system. If those don’t exist, h…
Is that really needed for creativity? Most of human history was ruled by monarchs and yet we had extremely creative people.
When England was a world power, they weren’t exactly known for human rights and yet they lead the Industrial Revolution.
Even in Jim Crow America, there was still a lot of creativity from those that were oppressed.