The 5 Big Unexpectations on China by the West

 Professor Martin Jacques in his recent lecture talked about the western expectations of China that led to its rise in the short span of 40 years from poverty to world supremacy. There were two assumptions that the West made and expected of China. It was too poor and backward to catch up with America and the West in economic well being and everything. Secondly, if China were to become richer and more successful, it would become more democratic or be like the Americans. Both turned out to be false and by 2014 China's economy was already bigger than the Americans on parity purchasing power terms and also, China is still China and not an inch closer to the American democratic system. The Americans regard the latter as bad and China's rise must be put to and end. But it is not going to be easy and not going the American and western way.

The disappointments were manifested in 5 big 'unexpectations' in the West. For years and decades, the Americans have been singing their favourite song written by a Gordon Chang, claimed to be a Chinese but looked like a Japanese and hating everything Chinese, that China is about to implode and collapse, broken up and become a failed state. This sad story did not happen and China is growing stronger and stronger by the day. But this Japanese looking Chinese is still a hot favourite to be invited to badmouth  China even after his silly expectation of China failed to materialise. He is still hoping that it will, one day.

The next unexpectation of the West, according to Martin Jacques, is that China would suffer a financial crisis. It did not, it was America and the West that was hit by the financial crisis and some went bankrupt, with some gone and some teethering to topple over in Europe.

Another unexpectation is political crisis. It did not happen in China but in the West. The American manipulated mass protests on the streets of Hong Kong is now history. The mass protests are now daily occurrence in many American cities and in some European cities and getting worse by the day. And the biggest political crisis, expecting and hoping for Xi Jinping and his CCP to be toppled turned into a rude shock when Xi has extended his leadership for life while the CCP is getting more than 90 per cent support from the Chinese people. On the other hand, America is sunk into a political crisis that threatens to break up the United States into a Disunited States with Trump claiming that the American democratic election process is flawed, corrupted, easily rigged and cannot be trusted. Trump is now planning to conduct a coup against president elect Biden. The political crisis in the US is now an international joke.

And then came Covid19, a virus planted in China and China was expected to crumbled with millions of Chinese dead by the pandemic. The unexpectation, the virus left China after being effectively curbed and controlled and flew over to Europe and the USA, ravaging every city and state and with the number of infections and deaths on top of the world and growing and growing rapidly, unstoppable.

And the trade war launched by Trump to cripple China's economy is turning out to become another painful unexpectation for the Americans. China's economy is as good as back on its feet and growing, back to normal. The American economy and the economies of the West are still under lockdown and in negative territory. How come, how can?  Did not Trump said he won?

The rise of China is unstoppable. The decline and fall of the West, especially America, is the final unexpectation that they did not see coming, refuse to see it coming, in a numb state of denial.