U.S. & China: Progressivism & Populism Hinder Dealing with Beijing Threat

During the three or four decades preceding Xi Jinping’s ascendancy to the chairmanship of his party and his country, it became fashionable among Western commentators to downplay the Communism of the Chinese Communist Party. Yes, these observers conceded, it’s true that the revolution of 1949 was a Marxist insurrection, but the government of China since — especially since “modernization” began in 1978 — has been fairly continuous with the country’s pre-Communist governing ethos. Confucianism, they argued, which preceded Marxism as China’s state-sponsored creed, already identified the people with the government, encouraged authoritarian rule by an elite cabal, and prized state-enforced order above all else. Communism, if anything, merely added an exotic Western layer of economic jargon to these ancient Chinese impulses. It was, according to this older view, an ideological supplement, not a wholesale transplant. This consensus was summed up by Martin Jacques in his 2009 book When China Rules the World, published four years before Xi became chairman of the Party:

Eight years into Xi’s premiership, it’s clear that this is no longer the case (if, indeed, it ever was). Dialectical materialism is now the undisputed animating spirit of the Chinese government, as the regime’s ongoing “education” drive makes clear.

About the Author

Cameron Hilditch

Cameron Hilditch was a 2020-2021 William F. Buckley Fellow in Political Journalism at National Review Institute.

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During the three or four decades preceding Xi Jinping’s ascendancy to the chairmanship of his party and his country, it became fashionable among Western commentators to downplay the Communism of the Chinese Communist Party. Yes, these observers conceded, it’s true that the revolution of 1949 was a Marxist insurrection, but the government of China since — especially since “modernization” began in 1978 — has been fairly continuous with the country’s pre-Communist governing ethos. Confucianism, they argued, which preceded Marxism as China’s state-sponsored creed, already identified the people with the government, encouraged authoritarian rule by an elite cabal, and prized state-enforced order above all else. Communism, if anything, merely added an exotic Western layer of economic jargon to these ancient Chinese impulses. It was, according to this older view, an ideological supplement, not a wholesale transplant. This consensus was summed up by Martin Jacques in his 2009 book When China Rules the World, published four years before Xi became chairman of the Party:

Eight years into Xi’s premiership, it’s clear that this is no longer the case (if, indeed, it ever was). Dialectical materialism is now the undisputed animating spirit of the Chinese government, as the regime’s ongoing “education” drive makes clear.