From Overseas Press

Chinese government gets support from its people

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-05-28 14:18

Unlike its counterparts in many free-market democracies in the world, Chinese government is popular among its people, Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, said in USA Today on May 26.

Bremmer said that at a time when democratic countries in both the Western and Eastern worlds are in various troubles, Chinese government has gotten "plenty of popular goodwill" among its citizens because of its double-digit economic growth for three decades.

Besides being satisfied with the economic development, many Chinese people "credit their government with wise leadership" and are proud of their country's "entrance onto the international political and economic stage," said the article.

Not only popular among its own people, "China's solid rebound from the global market meltdown is attracting admirers (and imitators) from across the developing world," commented the writer.

However, Bremmer said that "China's state-driven form of capitalism has become a threat to the future of free markets," and he then listed four reasons to explain why China's mode will challenge free markets.

According to him, Chinese government will need less help from foreign investment when the domestic companies "find their footing." Chinese firms' promotion will be at the expense of outsiders.

Second, he believed that "multinational companies now must compete throughout the developing world with powerful state-owned Chinese companies."

Third, China's commercial relations with some countries like Iran, Sudan and Myanmar make it impossible for international society to impose tough sanctions on them.

Finally, developing countries may tend to follow China's economic mode to gain growth and stability, rather than copying the free-market model of developed countries.