From the perspective of an outsider, the actions of the Chinese government can often be difficult to understand. How is it possible that the two seemingly conflicting ideologies of free market economics and a highly authoritarian government not only coexist, but also deepen simultaneously? The state not only adopted a capitalistic model, but also increasingly opted for more market oriented over state planned economics. And at the same time, the strength and overwhelming dominance of the CPC in the daily lives of the people has not waned, but rather increased since the incumbency of Xi Jinping as the General Secretary. While China is a complex beast to analyze, if it is approached with an appropriate mindset and understanding of the political and economic circumstances of China, it is possible to decipher the motivations behind the state's actions.
Perhaps the most significant event that can be credited for many of China's recent political strategy is the ongoing economic downturn starting from the financial crisis of 2008. Prior to the crisis, China enjoyed fantastic GDP growth figures, often nearing double digits and at many points well exceeding 10% annual growth. During these periods of extreme growth, general sentiments towards the government and its economic and political policies were very positive, owing to increases in the country's economic well being, rising standards of living, and increase in Chinese international presence and prominence via trade.
While the crisis did not stop China from making significant economic gains and maintaining respectable GDP growth figures, China has suffered from several consecutive years of decrease in growth percentages (the crisis however is not the singular factor in decrease in growth, as China moves from an industrial economy to a post-industrial is associated with slower growth and decreases in certain sectors of the economy). As the country sees year on year decrease in growth, it is unlikely that the current levels of economic development will garner the same amount of support it provided in the past (a significant majority of people transitioned from a rural to urban lifestyle, seeing drastic changes to their standards of living and personal wealth in a short period of time, as the economy matures and the levels of urbanization slows, most people will see much slower and incremental gains from economic policies). As a result, public opinion of the government's economic policies is likely to be more heavily scrutinized. Furthermore, such a scenario is ideal for internal political competitors and opponents to leverage for change and challenge the current administration under Xi Jinping.
In response, China's recent political policies have had a clear trend towards consolidating internal power and eliciting favor from the general populace. For example, when taking office as the General Secretary of the CPC, Xi Jinping promoted a campaign of anti-corruption within the party, targeting various high level officials and incriminating them with charges and stripping them of position and power. These internal "witch hunts" ultimately serve two primary purposes. First, by eliminating specific high members, Xi Jinping and his faction are able to consolidate power as to prevent an opposition from undermining his authority. Second, it helps achieve a positive view of the state and party by showing that no single member, high or low, are immune from scrutiny.
In a more recent example, along with a consolidation of the various armed forces of the state, Xi Jinping took on a new title of Commander in Chief in addition of being the chairman of the party's Central Military Commission. This is reflective of China's increasingly assertive foreign policy and further consolidation of political as well as direct military control under Xi Jinping and his faction. Furthermore, it also aligns with Xi Jinping's political strategy of promoting Chinese nationalism through the concept of "The Chinese Dream" in revitalizing China as a prominent political and economic power, which also functions to legitimize and popularize the state and party under Xi Jinping's leadership.
Beyond political centralism through promotion of nationalism, China also continues to double down in its stake in capitalism. This is exemplified by the continued development of the special economic zones in China and addition of new zones and official state advocacy for support and continued expansion of these zones by one of China's Vice Premier, Wang Yang. While strict political compliance and repression of party criticism might secure the current administration's position in the short term, the party understands that the legitimizing powers of a strong economy cannot be ignored.
Rather than trying to understand China as a categorically ideology driven machine, it is more useful to approach it the understanding that the CPC, and by extension, the state and the currently dominant administration as goal oriented entities that will prioritize results (consolidating internal party power and external support from the general populace) over dogmatically following communistic or socialistic ideals. As the next National Congress nears (held roughly once every five years, with the previous being held in November 2012), it will be interesting to see how the party will act in regards to their foreign economic and political policies and how Xi Jinping will act to further consolidate more political power for himself.
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