The People's Republic of China's doubts, 75 years after its founding (2024)

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  • China

News analysis

Harold Thibault Beijing (China) correspondent

While the Beijing regime boasts flattering results on the world stage, Chinese society is gripped by pessimism.

Published on September 30, 2024, at 10:47 pm (Paris), updated on October 1, 2024, at 11:22 am 4 min read Lire en français

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The People's Republic of China is preparing to celebrate its 75th anniversary on Tuesday, October 1, in a paradoxical atmosphere. The regime will be patting itself on the back for its successes, and in many ways, the people of China give it a great deal of credit for its achievements. Ever since Deng Xiaoping, at the turn of the 1980s, set the country on the path of economic reforms and turned the page on Maoist chaos, these have been at the heart of the social contract between the rulers and the population. The single party has had to deliver results, just as the head of a multinational corporation would, closely monitored by its shareholders.

And results are constantly forthcoming. Not a month goes by without the opening of a new high-speed train station in a remote canton, even though the country already has a more extensive high-speed rail network than the rest of the world combined. China has three aircraft carriers and is building more; it will send astronauts to the Moon by 2030.

Even if it still suffers from pollution, it has managed to secure an edge in most of the know-how associated with the energy transition, from batteries to solar panels, and is sparing no effort to achieve autonomy in sectors as strategic as microchips. Even the US government admits that it is the only country with both the plans and the means to compete with the world's leading power.

These successes would make any number of countries pale in comparison. And yet, this same society is experiencing a loss of faith in the future, fearing that it will be no better for the new generation than it was for the previous one. Youth unemployment stood at 18.8% in August, its highest level since the statistic stopped being published in the summer of 2023, after crossing 21% and then reappearing, six months later, in a more favorable version.

Read more Subscribers only Chinese youth are rethinking their relationship to work

The Chinese have become the fourth nationality – the first three are all Latin American – to cross the dreaded Darien jungle between Colombia and Panama in an attempt to immigrate to the US. Many of the wealthy are exiling themselves to Tokyo or Singapore, a sign of the times.

Xi Jinping and the example of the USSR

This evolution can be explained in three phases. The first episode took place in 2018. After six years in power, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Secretary Xi Jinping had already largely placed his men at the top of the state. He had succeeded in having the two-term presidential limit lifted, even though it was seen as a safeguard against the return of irrational power and to ensure a regular and controlled political scene.

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The People's Republic of China's doubts, 75 years after its founding (2024)

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