March 11th, 2021 Brief Kateryna Meshcheriakova

Demand For Full-Scale Democratization May Not Be a Priority for the Chinese People Given The
Rapid Increase In Their Standards Of Living.

In the article “Without Democracy, China Will Rise No Further”, Jiwei Ci argues that with the
rising middle class and the recent calls for democracy in Hong Kong, China’s economy will not
substantially advance any further unless it turns to democracy. 1 However, democratization may not be a
priority for the Chinese citizens due to the continuous increase in the Chinese standards of living because
the CCP: ensured 40 years of economic prosperity, secured healthcare and future of the economy during
the time of the pandemic, and compensated the lack of democratic freedoms by increasing quality of life
for the Chinese citizens.
I. Emphasis on Economic Reform Has Made Substantial Progress. China has been one of the world’s
fastest-growing economies since 1979 with an averaging growth rate in real GDP of 9.5. 2 The ability to
double its GDP every two years allowed China to lift approximately 800 million people out of poverty. 3
China is the largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, merchandise, manufacturing, and
foreign exchange reserves holding.4 Recently China became the largest recipient of FDI. 5 Much of the
Chinese economic growth came from capital investment and productivity. Sacrificing democratic values
under CCP leadership helped the fast implementation of the necessary reforms that stimulated
industrialization and rapid economic development in the long run. Some examples include the Agrarian
Reform Law, the First Five Year Plan, the Agriculture First: “These policies brought such remarkable
successes that by late 1950 many urban Chinese viewed the CCP leadership as needed reformers”.6
Furthermore, in the early stages of the “Big Push” industrialization strategy, China pushed the investment
rate to 26% of GDP while investment levels in other poor countries amounted to only 20%. 7 The CCP
was allocating the resources, investing into industrialization and productivity while implementing Unti-
Rights Campaign and violating the rights of the citizens enabling them to object to the policies. The
advantage of the centralized party rule is that there was no objection from the general public even during
the Great Chinese Famine, which allowed the CCP to act quickly and experiment with policies. 8 Funding
was not spent on stimulus packets but was invested into development projects that pooled China out of
the poverty trap to increase long term standard of living, “Remember, aid cannot achieve the end of
poverty. Only homegrown development based on the dynamism of individuals and firms in free markets
can do that” (Easterly). A logical conclusion is that China does not require democratization for further
economic growth given the 40 years of prosperity that pulled China out of poverty.
II. Emergency Responsiveness to Societal Needs
Matters. China’s real GDP is projected to grow by
8.1%9 in 2021 and will not suffer severe losses due
to the successful containment of COVID-19 on its
territory. While the world’s best-known
democracy, the U.S., suffers economic damages
that may result in a $4.8 trillion loss in real GDP
over the course of the next two years10 in addition
to deaths, unemployment, and inflation due to late
response, lose quarantine measures, and stimulus
checks. According to the study performed by the
NetSI, the control over citizens and social
distancing showed impressive results in handling
March 11th, 2021 Brief Kateryna Meshcheriakova

the COVID-19 right from the start in Wuhan and Shanghai, which secured long-term, the Chinese
economy and personal income for Chinese citizens. 11 The fact that countries such as the E.U. and the U.S.
with the leading human freedom index levels (Figure 2) have trouble encouraging their citizens to
maintain social distancing and lack of efficient biodefense strategy proves that a high level of freedom is
not efficient at countering pandemic emergencies on their territory causing the COVID-19 cases to rise
(Figure 1). The refusal to mobilize healthcare and implement proper biodefense strategy by the U.S.
authorities resulted in noncompliance with the quarantine measures leading to healthcare overload and
economic losses. On the other hand, CCP’s immediate and authoritarian methods of containing COVID-
19 proved the efficiency of Chinese healthcare and secured the economy, which questions the
effectiveness of democratic measures.
III. Societal Happiness is
Not Necessarily Found in
Democracies. Countries with
low freedoms and stable
economic growth have
satisfactory happiness indexes
(Figure 2). According to
Figure 2, China, Kazakhstan,
Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam have limited freedoms, a highly growing GDP, and a
satisfactory happiness index. Even though Turkey is considered a parliamentary democracy, its freedoms,
economic growth, quality of life, and happiness index, displayed in Figure 2 is similar to China’s.
Kazakhstan is a republic under authoritarian rule with freedom scores higher than in Turkey, China, and
Thailand, but its economic growth is lower, and so is its happiness index. When looking at all the data
combined and compared to China it is visible that countries with low freedom still have a decent
happiness index because they can balance out lack of freedom by high economic real GDP growth and
satisfying quality of life. China, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam can balance the lack of
democratic freedoms with their economic growth, which results in a satisfying happiness index.

While the Human Development Index (HDI) and the quality of life in China continue to rise, the
Statista report shows that 82% of the Chinese population trust CCP. 12 The Chinese government makes
CCP a part of an everyday lifestyle that maintains its high support through the rising quality of life,
propaganda, severe control over media and public opinion, structured institutions, and continuous
competition in the society with increased work hours. For most of the Chinese people, democratization is
not a priority question because, out of the entire Chinese population, 700,000,000 are a part of the middle
class, which is 48%.13 In addition, as it is displayed in Figure 3 the quality of life is rising every year
while poverty is declining. The statement that “without democracy China will not rise any further” is false
because Chinese quality of life is yearly improving.

Bibliography
1
Ci, Jiwei. “Without Democracy, China Will Rise No Farther.” Foreign Affairs, 16 Apr. 2020,
www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-10-04/without-democracy-china-will-rise-no-farther.
2
Morrison, Wayne M. “China's Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United
States.” EveryCRSReport.com, Congressional Research Service, 25 June 2019,
www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33534.html#_Toc12530867.
3
Morrison, Wayne M. “China's Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United
States.” EveryCRSReport.com, Congressional Research Service, 25 June 2019,
www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33534.html#_Toc12530867.
4
Morrison, Wayne M. “China's Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United
States.” EveryCRSReport.com, Congressional Research Service, 25 June 2019,
www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33534.html#_Toc12530867.
5
Times, Global. “China Surpasses US as the Largest Recipient of FDI in 2020: UN Report.” Global Times, 25
Jan. 2021, www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1213812.shtml#:~:text=China%20climbed%20to%20the
%20No,billion%2C%20off%20the%20first%20spot.
6
Franke, Herbert. “Economic Policies.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 Mar. 2021,
www.britannica.com/place/China/Economic-policies.
7
Naughton, Barry J. “The Chinese Economy.” The MIT Press, The MIT Press, 2007,
mitpress.mit.edu/books/chinese-economy.
8
Li, Rita Ya Man, and Tat Ho Leung. “Is Democracy a Pre-Condition in Economic Growth? A Perspective from
the Rise of Modern China.” United Nations, United Nations, 2021, www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/democracy-
pre-condition-economic-growth-perspective-rise-modern-china.
9
“World Economic Outlook Update, January 2021: Policy Support and Vaccines Expected to Lift Activity.”
IMF, 1 Jan. 2021, www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2021/01/26/2021-world-economic-outlook-update.
10
E. Corong, TW. Hertel, et al. “The Impacts of the Coronavirus on the Economy of the United States.”
Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer International Publishing, 1 Jan. 1970,
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41885-020-00080-1.
11
Vespignani, Alessandro, and Marco Ajelli. “The COVID-19 Outbreak in Sichuan, China: Epidemiology and
Impact of Interventions.” Home, 28 Dec. 2020, www.networkscienceinstitute.org/publications/the-covid-19-
outbreak-in-sichuan-china-epidemiology-and-impact-of-interventions.
12
Shaulova, Esther, and Lodovica Biagi. “Chinese Communist Party CCP.” Statista, 2020,
www.statista.com/study/12872/chinese-communist-party-ccp-statista-dossier/.
13
Textor, Published by C., and May 28. “China: Number of Middle Class Population 2002-2020 .” Statista,
28 May 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/875874/middle-class-population-in-china/.
Figure 1:
COVID-19 Cases by Country: “Spain: WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard.” World Health
Organization, World Health Organization, 2021, covid19.who.int/region/euro/country/es.

Figure 2:

Freedom Index (CATO): World Population Review. Freedom Index by Country 2021, 2021,
worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/freedom-index-by-country.

3Vásquez , Ian, and Fred McMahon. 2020, pp. 9–12, The HUMAN FREEDOM INDEX 2020.

GDP by country (World Bank): Kashiwase, H., et al. “World Bank Open Data.” Data, 5 Feb. 2021,
data.worldbank.org/.

Quality of life (NUBEO): NUBEO. “Quality of Life.” Cost of Living, 2021, www.numbeo.com/quality-of-
life/rankings_by_country.jsp.

Happiness Index (WHR): Helliwell, John F, et al. Sustainable Development, 2020, pp. 1–202, World
Happiness Report 2020.
 Jan-Emmanuel De Neve University of OxfordChristian Krekel London School of Economics, et al. Cities
and Happiness: A Global Ranking and Analysis, 20 Mar. 2020, worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/cities-and-
happiness-a-global-ranking-and-analysis/.

Figure 3:

Human Development Index (UNDP): 3 Conceição, Pedro. United Nations, 2020, Human Development
Report 2020, Human Development Report 2020.

Powerty Ratio (CNBS): Textor, Published by C., and Mar 1. “China: Poverty Ratio 2020.” Statista, 1
Mar. 2021, www.statista.com/statistics/1086836/china-poverty-ratio/.

“ STATISTICAL COMMUNIQUÉ OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ON THE 2020 NATIONAL

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT[1].” Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of
China on the 2020 National Economic and Social Development, 2021,
www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202102/t20210228_1814177.html.

Quality of life (NUBEO): NUBEO. “Quality of Life.” Cost of Living, 2021, www.numbeo.com/quality-
of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp.