In a recent discussion on the program, political economist Professor Xu Chenggang revealed the unique authoritarian nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Unlike typical authoritarian regimes, the CCP, since its inception, has inherited the institutional genes of the Soviet Union, fully controlling the military, courts, legislature, finance, land, and media, even infiltrating into private enterprises, foreign enterprises, and NGOs, making true private ownership and independent social forces unable to exist.
Professor Xu pointed out that mistakenly labeling China as an “authoritarian country” and expecting a natural transition to democracy with economic development and the growth of the middle class is a deep-rooted illusion. In fact, the Cold War has never ended, and the CCP has simply continued in a different form: by integrating into the global trade system, strengthening its economy, controlling supply chains, and gradually expanding globally.
He warned that the West has been repeatedly misled by the CCP since World War II, from misjudgments in the Chinese Civil War, to illusions after the Tiananmen Square incident, to advocating for China’s entry into the WTO, all of which have bolstered the CCP’s power. Today, the threat posed by the CCP far exceeds that of the former Soviet Union. If democratic countries fail to recognize its true nature and take necessary measures, they will face incalculable consequences.
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The program production team of “Thought Leaders in America”