Claudio Katz: China: Neither imperialist nor part of the Global South

Claudio Katz argues that China is neither imperialist nor part of the Global South.

Dependency presupposes the existence of a state subject to external orders, requirements or conditioning, while imperialism implies the opposite: international supremacy and a high degree of external interventionism. These should not be intermingled in the same formula. In China the lack of subordination to another power coexists alongside great restraint in its involvement with other countries. This is neither dependency nor imperialism.

Katz is arguing is that China is not an imperialist power as it does not intervene directly in the affairs of other nations through the use of military force or economic coercion. This is a big change from the period prior to the 1990's when China tried to invade Vietnam, supported Maoist guerillas, and intervened directly into the Korean conflict.

Nor is China a dependent power like Australia in which we have to follow the lead of the USA in military and political matters.

Those who are unaware of this difference tend to denounce China and the United States alike as aggressive powers. They situate the two contenders on the same plane and stress that they intervene indifferently in those conflicts.

But this neutralism fails to note who is primarily responsible for the tensions that shake the planet. It fails to see that the United States sends warships to its rival’s coast and raises the tone of its accusations in order to generate a climate of growing conflict.

Katz is arguing that China is acting defensively. This defensiveness has to be seen in the presence of US bases in South Korea, Japan, Guam, and others. China has no comparable presence near the USA.

China does not suffer the outflows that typically drain the dependent countries. It is exempt from the trade imbalance, technological deficiency, scarcity of investment or strangling of purchasing power. There are no data from today’s China suggesting that its stunning economic might constitutes a mere statistical fiction.

This trade surplus allows some freedom of action for China on the world stage. And it is this freedom that is an affront to the US.

But these cheerful portraits overlook the fact that the consolidation of capitalism accentuates in China all of the imbalances already generated by overproduction and surplus capital. These tensions, in turn, accentuate inequality and deterioration of the environment. Ignoring these contradictions prevents us from noting how China’s defensive international strategy is undermined by the competitive pressure imposed by capitalism

Katz puts this contradiction as the core problem for China. While Capitalism has delivered stunning economic growth and properity for China, the need for ever-expanding markets brings it into sharp conflict with the hegemonic power of the USA.

In the short term, there is the robust rise of China in the face of an obvious decline of the United States. China is winning the dispute in all areas and its recent management of the pandemic is a confirmation of this. Beijing quickly achieved control over the spread of the infection while Washington coped with an overflow of cases that left the country with one of the highest numbers of deaths.

The pandemic has hastened the decline of the USA. And it is this decline that makes the USA more dangerous as it tries to maintain its hegemony. But we should also be wary of China as the Capitalist contradictions impel it towards imperialism.

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The Cuban Epic

Claudio Katz describes The Cuban epic .

Involving citizens in the direct handling of their future is the principal antidote to the dangers in the reforms. This can be achieved by supporting socialist democracy. The vitality of this system is an effective remedy to apathy. What happened in the USSR should serve as a counter example. Since the people considered themselves outside the political system they stayed on the margin of the changes that led to the restoration of capitalism.

Cuba has levels of real democracy superior to any capitalist plutocracy. Its leaders are not elected by an elite of bankers and industrialists, nor do they emerge from the cosmetic advertising constructed by the news media. They do not rule with terror against the population or the intimidation that dominates in some police regimes in Central America. But there are innumerable manifestations of insufficiency of democracy in Cuba’s political system and its media. The reforms are the opportunity to correct those deficiencies.

If the economic changes manage to combine appropriately the cooperatives, small property and state priority, the recovery of the economy will renew optimism. The productive and commercial transformations could result in visible improvements in the standard of living of the population. The big challenge is to speed up those advances with the market while at the same time preventing the restoration of capitalism.

The immediate key to avoiding that danger is to limit social inequality through maintaining public and universal education and health systems. The exemplary nature of the leadership, combined with this support, will help in finding the way through the new crossroads facing the country.

The Cuban people have demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to cope with the difficulties, regaining confidence in the revolution. It is a country that requires great caution when it comes to making forecasts. It was often said that it would not withstand the blockade, the invasions, the shortages or the isolation, and it always emerged with elegance. I am sure they will again win the war.

Emphasis Mine

It is interesting how a third-world country, such as Cuba, has survived such terrible hardships while achieving a better health-care system than the most advanced Capitalist state: USA. And they have a free education system through to university, while the Australian universities degrade themselves by becoming a major export-earner.

This resiliance and achievement comes about from an active socialist democracy. Although it is a one-party state, the debates are intense about how Cuba should face the future.

And the move away from centralised planning to more local control at the co-operative and factory level. It would appear that not all economic activity is amenable to socialist ideals, and that petty bourgeoisie should be harnassed.

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