Fernando Munoz Bernal chinateacher.yt@gmail.com FOR me, to offer an opinion on the CPC seems inappropriate, as I know very little about its intricacies. However, I have experienced the effects of its work. On that, I have so much to say and so many aspects to cover. First, meritocracy is key to its effectiveness and efficiency. And it’s such a difference with our governments back home. In my country, Colombia, since before I was born our leaders have been debating if and how to build a tunnel that would revolutionize the economy. Still, nothing. Which leads me to point number two. Second, eradication of corruption. I have done consulting projects with Chinese local governments for nearly 16 years. I see how much more strict and formal processes are now. In my experience, I feel a positive change in the culture in government since President Xi Jinping launched a campaign to root out corruption. Trust in government is inversely proportional to the level of corruption. And incidentally, I find it directly linked to the government and ultimately China’s success in COVID-19 management, for example. Third, they listen to people, even though it’s a government elected by representation — it’s rather democratic in that sense. How else do we explain the fact that we are constantly hearing so many reforms and modifications to rules and regulations! They implement a solution, and they monitor and revise it by listening to people. I can give you so many examples of this just by talking about city traffic improvements. The government is in constant evolution to better meet the needs of its people: building U-turns where needed, merging incoming and oncoming lanes at different times of day, creating dividers and mechanisms to keep pedestrians safe, developing parking technologies to correct parking deficiencies, implementing AI traffic lights, etc. And that’s just talking about traffic! They are constantly changing and improving. Americans love to attack China’s system while touting their system as better and more desirable. The irony is, America’s president is elected by the electoral college, a form of election by representation as well. In fact, the Republican Party lost the popular vote several times, yet the Electoral College gave the presidency to the loser on many occasions, most recently to Donald Trump. America’s democracy gives voters the illusion that THEY are choosing their leader. It is in fact Super PAC’s and the wealthy who choose via contributions to campaigns and sheer corruption. The popular vote is just a mental pacifier for the mob. Fourth, historically, communism and socialism have been given a bad reputation. Democracy and capitalism have been touted as ideal and thus exported and imposed (at times militarily) all around the world. What’s interesting for me to see is how China has made its system become not only viable but its success enviable. The level of infrastructure, the quality of life, poverty alleviation, the technology, the prosperity, the leadership role around the world… to the point where it is now within a few years of overtaking the U.S. as the largest economy in the world. (The author owns a training center in Dongguan City and operates YouTube channel FerMuBe.) | 