China's unwavering defiance towards rule of law a redflag for Xi

BEIJING: As the 20th Party Congress is fast approaching, Chinese President Xi Jinping must be cautious of two imminent warnings, first-efforts by the West to decouple the world from China and the second is Beijing's close-door policy where the leaders are reluctant to import concepts of democracy and the rule of law, media reports said.

Ahead of the party congress where Xi eyes to secure a third term in power much damage has already been done. China's bid to uproot corruption and inefficiency in the party did not bore any fruit as the government and economy has failed to deliver, reported Policy Research Group (POREG).

Joining the line of issues is the latest spate of suspensions, expulsions and arrests show in China which has further dimmed the party's goals to project itself as benevolent.

According to POREG, China has failed to revise its national policy of opening up to the world and is also facing the brunt of the West who is increasingly encouraging a roll back of globalization for China by trying to decouple it from the rest of the globe.

Much like the US-Soviet Union cold war, both the US and China appear to be locked in a modern cold war with the West engaged in containing the nation in its stride by de-linking the country from the global developmental effort. Zheng Yongnian, an influential Chinese commentator contends that globalization and China's opening-up were 'previously two interdependent and enhancing' forces.

This helped China to catch up with the West. It finished in just forty years the development process that took the major western countries a century and a half.

However, he continued, "Today, though, this circumstance is no longer present. In order to contain China's continued rise and possibly even halt its modernization, the West not only opposes globalization but also makes significant efforts to decouple it from China," reported POREG.

Next is China's own closed-door policy. Professor Zheng, one of world's leading academics, sounds a word of caution here as well. "China may once again close the door if 'closing the country to the outside world' is accepted as a valid ideology".

Because there is "no certainty" in history. If somebody believes openness is an inevitability, history will show that that very belief is "a grave mistake".

Professor Zheng Yongnian who is associated as the founder of the Institute for International Affairs, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen noted, "The Soviet bloc's lack of openness was its most notable feature.... There cannot be thought innovation without thought exchange and as time goes by comes the state of rigidness."

He alerted that in today's world all the countries are interdependent and economic development has become "increasingly intertwined today as a result of factors like industrialisation, the spread of technology, and spread of ideas".

"In addition, without opening up, there was no market for goods and no movement of money, technology, or labor (including talent) Since the modern era, Russia has made every effort to ingratiate itself with the West, and its ruling elites rarely reject the West," he added.

China is selective when it comes to importing Western ideas. Writing in his highly readable tome, "Globalization and State Transformation in China", Professor Zheng said the Chinese leadership has been "open to the importation of Western ideas" for restructuring the bureaucracy and other important economic institutions to "accommodate" a globalized market economy.

However, putting out the contrast he said, "the same leaders are reluctant to import Western concepts of democracy and the rule of law", he lamented and cautioned that "ultimately, this selectivity will impede China's progress in becoming a modern nation-state".