Communism has failed everywhere; it will fail in China

Paul Monk gives a frightening picture of China as a paranoid, insecure, complex and repressed society (“Tiger’s roar masks dangerous fragility”, 3-4/7). Freedom of speech is totally suppressed and indoctrination of children to conform to communism starts at an early age. Desperate to keep it all together, Xi Jinping is now using the threat of a foreign invasion to maintain nationalistic fervour.

But as Monk points out, there is no guarantee it can be kept together and, worse, if there is rebellion there is no fall-back option. China has made the mistake of not following the South Korean and Taiwanese examples of democratising after having attained a middle-class society. Communism has failed in Russia and Europe and, following the inevitable course of human nature, it will ultimately fail in China.

Ron Hobba, Camberwell, Vic

As Western commentators analyse the mood, psychology and potential future of a surging China, there seem to be some elements routinely overlooked. Inconceivable as it may seem, not every people or nation believes democracy is the best form of government. Perhaps it is arrogant to assume a nation such as China, proud of its history, should think a Western government system is preferable to a more autocratic system, such as that in China?

Add to this the possibility that Beijing’s highly orchestrated displays of patriotic fervour and military power – that to a Western mind might seem bizarre – might actually stir patriotic pride in Chinese participants and viewers.

And, while it may be foreign to nations where life is mostly safe and comfortable and individualism reigns, there are nations that accept that the whole is greater than its parts and that the people are there to serve the will of the nation.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East, Vic

Thank you for publishing the excellent letter by John Oliver (3-4/7). I was shocked when Marise Payne bumbled her way into challenging China without, obviously, even considering, as most people know and accept, that pride is an integral part of Chinese culture and must never be taken lightly. Ignoring this cultural tenet leads to humiliation. Crippling tariff increases followed. We could still redress the situation by quietly admitting to the Chinese that we blew it and are sorry. Naive? Maybe, but a lot more useful than the current weak tactics.

Peter Sherlock, Bellevue, WA

Your editorial “Russia-China treaty holds risks” (3-4/7) rightly warns that our gravest security challenge of the 21st century is the forming of a strategic alliance between two nuclear-armed great powers, Russia and China, potentially leading to an armed conflict against a US-led Western military alliance incorporating NATO.

Never before has the US had to face two such nuclear-armed adversaries simultaneously. To restore strategic parity, it has embarked on a $US1.8 trillion nuclear modernisation program to develop hypersonic missile-delivery systems, together with overhauling its ageing stockpile of nuclear warheads.

Under the aegis of the so-called JADC2 (Joint All-Domain Command and Control), it is also preparing to command war from outer space through a globally integrated and 5G-networked system overseen by the US Space Force, with the ability to summon unmanned military forces.

While these developments all point to a strategy of improving deterrence, they could further dramatically destabilise global security at the risk of us gambling with a nuclear Armageddon.

Vincent Zankin, Rivett, ACT

In Henry Ergas’ excellent article, he examines China from a historical perspective (“As Xi’s CCP parties, history is rewritten”, 2/7). Ergas observes that while the CCP has long abandoned the Marxist utopia, it remains wedded to the Leninist matrix from which the Chinese Communist Party sprang. When Mao Zedong terminated his Cultural Revolution because his Red Guard did not follow the party line, he retreated to the Leninist centralist policy of mass subservience. Xi Jinping is doing the same. His leadership and party line must ultimately be protected before all else.

Students need to know how the history of Marxist central authority has repeatedly plunged the Chinese people into untold suffering.

Beth Cooper, Red Hill South, Vic