Thoughts on China and Egypt

The protests in Egypt have garnered considerable press all over the world, and China is no exception.  However, it is not for the same reasons.  Media such as CNN are quick to emphasize popular dissent, broadcasting vivid images of a people discontent with an oppressive regime and taking to the streets in protest.  A quick glance at CCTV shows a clearly different story.  A recent Chinese media story describes the movement as chaotic, and focuses on the economic repercussions such as the downturn in the Egyptian stock market and tourism market.  Laughable? Maybe.  Effective? Yes. 

Many a friend has come to China expecting to encounter a population yearning for democracy.  While there has been enough popular discontent to keep the government on its toes, there is certainly not enough dissatisfaction to inspire a popular revolt.  Part of this is due to the government's control over the media.  The government has been effective about controlling the debate over democracy.  Democratic processes (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) are broadcast as protests, chaotic and disruptive.  Instances of corruption in democratic societies have been touted as institutional flaws, causing, for example, a good friend of mine to call democracy in America simply a game for the rich.  Calls for reform and human rights abroad are responded to with appeals to nationalism and anti-imperialism. 

In addition, the government has carefully studied the lessons from its socialist neighbors.  It watched as a combination of economic and political freedoms tore the Soviet Union apart, and as a result, even though there have been waves of economic reforms, the Party's reach and the political institutions that govern the country today have remained largely unchanged. Wary of its potentially precarious situation, the government maintains policies aimed at assuaging the economic concerns of the socially mobile: keeping the currency low (China is still by far a manufacturing country), pumping liquidity into the economy, expanding educational opportunities, as well as maintaining growth and employment.  With this kind of Party, who wants to ruin a good thing?

The question of whether the events in Egypt will spill over in China has begun to surface.  The word around the blogosphere is a resounding no (see entries from the New Yorker and the Peking Duck).  The reasoning is simple: while the protests in Egypt are new, in China, it's still the same old song.