Source: Carnegie
Beijing Drama: China's Governance Crisis and Bush's New Challenge
Policy Brief 21
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Summary
China's leadership transition occurs at a critical juncture. Beijing's new
leaders face an emerging governance crisis that consists of a decaying ruling
party, deteriorating state capacity, and brewing regime-society tensions. This
crisis originates in the fundamental incompatibility between the Chinese Communist
Party's goal of perpetuating one-party rule and the market-oriented reforms
it has pursued to achieve this goal. If left unresolved, China's governance
crisis could lead to long-term stagnation and social instability. Beijing's
new leaders must confront this crisis with long-delayed political reforms. Moreover,
China's internal weakness poses a difficult challenge to the Bush administration
and calls for a rethinking of the assumptions underlying Washington's China
policy.
About the Author
Minxin Pei is senior associate and codirector of the Endowment's China
Program. He is the coauthor of Rebalancing
United States—China Relations (Carnegie Endowment Policy Brief
No. 13) and author of Future
Shock: The WTO and Political Change in China (Carnegie Endowment Policy
Brief No. 3).
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