China’s ‘Bad Debt’ Problem: Why Its Not Learning From Japan (Grant Newsham, 2/21/24, Japan Forward)
I had a front-row seat to the cleanup effort. There are lessons, but I doubt Xi Jinping is interested.The first lesson the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might learn from Japan is the need for an honest, impartial legal system that’s free of official influence.
Then there’s the simple ability to enforce a contract.
Next, you need guaranteed property rights.
And all of these flow from a system of consensual government.
Japan had all of these. The People’s Republic of China does not – and appears intent on keeping things that way. Otherwise, Party control is threatened.
There is only one hand guiding the Chinese economy and it is the hand of the CCP.
There is no viable alternative to the End of History.