MOst of the so called non-military industries are run by communist leaders or their children or relatives. The people benifiting from the economic growth are NOT the large majority of the Chinese people...I have been there with US firms and have seen it. The vast majority still live mostly in squalor. There is an effort by the leadership to get them into the cities, but that is so they can take better, more efficient avantage of their cheap labor.
If you analyze it, the people benefiting, IMHO, from the growth, are the members of the Communist Party and their families. Trouble is, at 6-8% of the population of something like 1.2 billion, that represents a lot of people (approaching 100 million) and they can put on one heck of a show.
I have seen it...they are very good at wooing our politicians and our corporate leaders.
"MOst of the so called non-military industries are run by communist leaders or their children or relatives. The people benifiting from the economic growth are NOT the large majority of the Chinese people...I have been there with US firms and have seen it. The vast majority still live mostly in squalor. There is an effort by the leadership to get them into the cities, but that is so they can take better, more efficient avantage of their cheap labor."
You can argue that most of the people in the US aren't rich either. It depends on if you adjust for cost of livining standards.
Is this the image of a communist state?
http://mishuna.image.pbase.com/u36/raindog73/upload/23688670.shanghainight.jpg
China is an authoritarian state, Communist in name only. There are still a few "old guards" around, such as the hated Li Peng, but he has no real power now. You can say they're a dictatorship but to describe them as Communist in the traditional sense is simply incorrect.
As far as the expansionistic nature - I think this has more to do with what happened to China in the 1800's than what you'd like to believe. China was raped and pillaged by first, the Brits and French, then every other nation in Europe, then Russia, then Japan. I think most Chinese realized that closed door policy doesn't work and is going for a carrot + stick diplomacy from now on.
