‘China may never become the world’s leading power’

First modification: 10/17/2022 – 16:07

RFI. Why is China a country on the brink of the abyss? In the book “Le dossier chinois” (‘The Chinese case’) you state that China will probably not become the world’s leading power. Why?

The first reason is economic. For more than 30 years, China registered growth levels of 10%. That growth is just plain crumbling. The growth target for 2022 is 5%, but I think this will be well below 3%. This means that the ‘Chinese dream’ is slowly fading away for a large part of the population.

Another reason is that demographics are rock bottom. Next year, the most populous country in the world will most likely be India, not China. The repercussions of this are also very strong because China’s image of El Dorado with Western investors is slowly disappearing.

China’s middle class, which we once thought consumes a lot, has not disappeared, but incomes are falling. This means that foreign investments in China are also being restricted. Now we are seeing many Western businessmen leaving China.

RFI. You state in his book that Chinese President Xi Jinping has established a “policy of terror” which is his main tool of power. What does it consist of specifically?

The policy of terror bears its name very well because it consists of making all political opponents disappear or be imprisoned. Or even torture them. Or put them in psychiatric facilities to get rid of them.

RFI. Do you think that the zero Covid strategy that the Chinese president has imposed is also part of this policy of terror?

This policy has two aspects: on the one hand, towards the outside, it aims to show China in a favorable perspective, that is, a country that managed, in a very short time, to defeat Covid 19, which is not at all true. .

The other aspect concerns domestic politics and consists of terrorizing the population, in particular showing that obedience is the only thing that works in China. And whoever does not obey will be punished.

Let me give you a taste of this very recently: the protests in a neighborhood in eastern Beijing. The people who demonstrated were not numerous, but they carried banners whose messages are very eloquent, as they said the following: “No to Covid tests, we want to eat; no to restrictions, we want freedom; no more lies, we want dignity; no to the cultural revolution, we want reforms; not the leaders, we want votes; no more slavery, we want to be citizens”.

This message translates what a part of the population is experiencing. Not all of it, of course, because we shouldn’t generalize, but a good part of it. This shows that there is a high degree of discontent in China at the moment.

RFI. You say that the West must become aware of what China stands for. What does it mean?

It is very simple. For many years, for several decades, there was a very great naivete about China on the part of the West. It was thought that China was taking the path of democracy, which has been an absolute and fatal mistake. The main initiator of this vision was the United States.

They too have realized that mistake, but too late. China’s road to democracy does not exist. On the contrary, that country runs the risk of falling into true fascism. I think that it is absolutely necessary that Western nations, and not only them, but also the rest of the world, become aware of the danger that China represents for the world.

That danger is political, ideological and economic. Little by little, people are becoming aware of it. I think that in a few years, the West, and not only the West, but also many countries that are China’s economic hostages, will also realize the danger that China represents.