Even the Chinese aren’t buying the ‘Chinese model’

It’s immensely difficult to manage such a huge and complex country as China, we are constantly told by its mandarins. Indeed it is. Tens of thousands of Hong Kongers took to the streets over the weekend to protest their new leader, the Chinese Communist Party-friendly Leung Chun-ying. There have been demonstrations annually on 1 July to mark the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from Britain, but Sunday’s was the biggest in years. The numbers of protestors range from 65,000 to 400,000 depending on whether you ask the police or the demo organisers. They’re unhappy about everything from corruption to pollution to the widening income gap to a construction scandal surrounding Leung. The Beijing authorities have responded with their usual mixture of bravado (a visiting Hu Jintao attended an ostentatious military parade) and bribery (offering a handful of economic sweeteners). 

The blended response is interesting, because – as Jonathan Fenby said in his brilliant Spectator cover story – the CCP quite simply doesn’t know what to do. It’s at a leadership crossroads, and scandals such as the Bo Xilai one serve only to add more confusion to the mix. Just because the US and Europe are in a quagmire doesn’t mean the Chinese are any more enlightened about the future. Still, as I point out in this week’s magazine, Beijing has embarked on a big PR campaign to present itself as a strong and solidified world culture. Having amassed state wealth and now busily pumping up its military, it now craves soft power, a global moral authority. To this end, certain Beijing academics have coined the term ‘civilisational state’ to describe China – it is, apparently, the world’s longest civilisation that is also a modern state (other countries like India or Russia need not apply). The ‘civilisational state’ is superior to the Western mode of the nation-state, which is fragmented, warring and imperialistic. And – surprise, surprise – the civilisational state doesn’t need termly democratic elections, because its leaders represent the Confucian model, which has the long-term support of the people. 

There’s no doubt the inhabitants on the Chinese mainland are more likely to buy this ‘philosophy’ than those of free-wheeling Hong Kong. Still, before going global with its civilising mission, Beijing may want to convince some of its own citizens first.