What the God Emperor Mao did to China, Xi could do to the whole world

WELT What the God Emperor Mao did to China, Xi could do to the whole world Article by Thomas Mayer • 4 days • 3 minutes reading time It is actually certain that the liberal social order is superior to autocratic central planning. But the progressive internal disintegration of the West is China's opportunity. We urgently need to focus on our strengths, because the balance of power is shifting. The television channel Arte recently broadcast a documentary series worth watching about the life and work of Mao Tse-tung. The series was appropriately titled "The Red Emperor". Mao only used his commitment to Marx and Lenin as a cloak of invisibility. He was neither familiar with Marxism nor did he want to implement this doctrine in China. Joseph Stalin therefore compared the Chinese politician to a radish: red on the outside and white on the inside. Mao was more likely to take up the position of the Chinese emperors, who were considered gods of the earthly sphere. As God Emperor, he ruled ruthlessly according to his own ideas, which brought immeasurable suffering to the population during the "Great Leap Forward" and the "Cultural Revolution". In terms of cruelty, he could easily compete with Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler, whom Hannah Arendt portrayed as masters of totalitarianism. Therefore, the world should be shocked if the current leader of China, Xi Jinping, blatantly follows Mao's example. Because if Xi, as the second red God Emperor of China, also ruthlessly implements his own ideas, this will have far more serious consequences for the rest of the world than in Mao's time. Back then, China was weakened by wars and mismanagement and could only threaten the world with its atomic bomb. Xi's China, on the other hand, has become the second largest economic power in the world thanks to the market economy reforms of his predecessors and wants to become the largest military power in the world by 2050. What the God Emperor Mao did to his country, a God Emperor Xi could do to the whole world. Even if the worst does not come to the worst, it is to be expected that Xi wants to reorganize China and the world according to his ideas. The Chinese elite and masses should follow his line with "fear in their hearts, caution in their speech and restraint in their actions". But this is not always straight and effective. After the failure of the rigorous "zero Covid" policy, the government suddenly lifted all restrictions in December 2022 and let the virus run free. It accepted the deaths of an estimated one million people without comment. Although the hoped-for economic recovery after the Covid turnaround failed to materialize, the government did nothing for a long time. Xi allegedly wanted to replace "quantitative" with "qualitative" economic growth. The bloated real estate sector was to shrink to a healthy level and make room for more sustainable growth. But at the end of September the government surprised everyone with another U-turn with an economic stimulus package estimated at six percent of gross domestic product. The stock market, which many had already written off, shot up by twenty percent like a manipulated penny stock. On a global level, Xi Jinping is strengthening resistance to the West. Under his leadership, China is working closely with Russia, Iran and North Korea in military and industrial terms. As leader of the BRICS-Plus group of states, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia, Xi wants to draw the "Global South" onto the side of the West's opponents. The West actually has no need to fear the challenge posed by China and its helpers. History has shown that the liberal social order is far superior to autocratic central planning. But the West is threatened by the progressive internal disintegration of its order. Hopefully the threat from outside will bring a return to its true strength. Thomas Mayer is the founding director of the Flossbach von Storch Research Institute.