Opinion | The hopium of Chinese failure
By Tom Fowdy
As China continues to wrestle with its wave of covid, the mainstream media have taken no liberties in sticking the boot into Beijing as fiercely as possible, despite having literally vilified the ruling party for its zero-covid approach. In the process of doing so, familiar takes applied in Wuhan, including tedious speculation over the activity of crematoriums have re-emerged (Financial Times), while commentator Jonathan Tepperman described in a Foreign Affairs article that " China is teetering on the edge of a cliff" through its U-turn, in an article which was titled: "China's Dangerous Decline".
These highlighted works are only but several of an endless array of articles which bombard western media pages daily, all of which are completely obsessed with China's imminent failure, no matter what the actual circumstances might be. There seems to be a determination, described here as a "hopium" that Xi Jinping's political project, described ludicrously by Tepperman as a "bad emperor" must fail on the premise that he has taken China off what they personally deem to be the "right path" for the country and therefore, under him Beijing's "rise" is subsequently over. He goes further, hysterically describing the country as becoming a "Giant North Korea".
Such a mindset is not really attributable to one person, but rather it reflects a broader pattern of assumptions about the west regarding their ideology, that being: that their "way" is the only true, right and successful way, and every other pattern of thought or mode of governance is subsequently doomed to an inevitable failure. Although this is most famously associated with Francis Fukuyama's "End of History" thesis, which was compounded by American triumphalism following the end of the Cold War, it is nonetheless a mindset that pre-dates these events by perhaps thousands of years in some respects.
The broad spectrum or "tent" of western ideology, be it left or right", respectively is derived from the ontology established by Christianity, and by extension, Greco-Roman philosophy. The legacy of Christianity in particular established the idea of "one holistic, universal and absolutist" truth, which created the interpretation of a binary world divided between good and evil. There were those who had the respective "truth", who were enlightened and righteous, and those who did not, who were ignorant and wicked. As such, Christians were not only reassured of the absolute and uncompromising righteousness of their own cause, but also in turn the long-term inevitability of their own victory. Fate in Christianity was pre-determined, Jesus would return and evil would be extinguished.
Although the world has changed considerably, the thought patterns and ontological assumptions of Christianity have embedded themselves in the western mindset and in particular through the evolution of liberal thought. In a similar respect to Christianity, western liberals are absolutely convinced by the enduring righteousness and moral truthfulness of their own course, and everyone who opposes or questions their doctrine is evil, and doomed to fail. Thus, as Christianity was intolerant of other religions and schools of thought as "alternative" conceptions of truth, as too is liberalism. There can only be one god and one way respectively.
In applying this to modern geopolitics, it was assumed through the "End of History" thesis respectively that the final victory of liberalism was permanent following the end of the Cold War, and it was because of this self-confidence that it was assumed China's Communist Political system was on an irreversible path towards liberalisation. It might be noted that because of this China's political system was conditionally tolerated, as it was assumed engagement and trade would help China change and evolve. However, as China grew more powerful and did not change, these assumptions were proved wrong, which led to the conception of China as not the grand westernized project it was hoped it would become, but a "threat"- because it continues to advocate a different political and economic model than the west.
As such, there is a determination manifest in media discourse that China "must" be seen to fail in every respect. This is why there is so much relentless negativity surrounding all things China and a constant depiction of "doom" with respect to the economy. This is why 1 million people in America can die, the media do not bat an eyelid, yet a covid wave in Beijing is deemed disastrous and worthy of being described as "China's decline". The bias is ontological, because to admit the success of China is to effectively deny the absolutism of the liberal gospel, which is the only thing that can be allowed to "win". In this respect, the essence of western thought itself rejects the very notion of multipolarity, because it can only envision a world where it has unlimited right and scope to impose its own values amongst others. Therefore, Xi Jinping's China is not a success story in its broader context, but an abomination, and thus is manifest the "hopium" of Chinese failure.
The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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