It it was truly socialist in nothing but name, I don't think the party would have been able to regain control in the way they did. Wasn't the whole idea of Deng's reforms to allow Western capital into the country, accept that there will be come chaos and problems to solve as a result, but keep a firm grip on the core tools of power to keep them out of the hands of capital? Shady stuff was expected and planned for.
I'm skeptical of the idea that the anti-corruption reforms wouldn't have happened without Xi. The way socialism with Chinese characteristics works is to try and create as many people like Xi as possible, and keep them in power. If Xi died in some freak accident tommorow, I have no doubt that his replacement would do a fine job.
What's more is, could anti-corruption reforms have really happened much earlier than they did? Hong Kong got the majority of it's foreign driven growth done from the mid 90s to about 2005. The floodgates for foreign investment were opened in '92. Anti-corruption campaigns would definitely scare off those foreign investors. Using Hong Kong as a model, it looks like around 2010 or so is when scarring off foreign investment is no longer a big deal. The anti-corruption campaigns began in full scale 2012. So right on track.
We are so used to governments being utterly incompetent in the West that when a foreign government says they are going to do something and actually does it, it seems like some insane special thing that defies normal explaination. But it's perfectly possible to maintain an organization to keep a consistent complex goal without relying on a single individual being in change forcing it.
It it was truly socialist in nothing but name, I don't think the party would have been able to regain control in the way they did. Wasn't the whole idea of Deng's reforms to allow Western capital into the country, accept that there will be come chaos and problems to solve as a result, but keep a firm grip on the core tools of power to keep them out of the hands of capital? Shady stuff was expected and planned for.
I'm skeptical of the idea that the anti-corruption reforms wouldn't have happened without Xi. The way socialism with Chinese characteristics works is to try and create as many people like Xi as possible, and keep them in power. If Xi died in some freak accident tommorow, I have no doubt that his replacement would do a fine job.
What's more is, could anti-corruption reforms have really happened much earlier than they did? Hong Kong got the majority of it's foreign driven growth done from the mid 90s to about 2005. The floodgates for foreign investment were opened in '92. Anti-corruption campaigns would definitely scare off those foreign investors. Using Hong Kong as a model, it looks like around 2010 or so is when scarring off foreign investment is no longer a big deal. The anti-corruption campaigns began in full scale 2012. So right on track.
We are so used to governments being utterly incompetent in the West that when a foreign government says they are going to do something and actually does it, it seems like some insane special thing that defies normal explaination. But it's perfectly possible to maintain an organization to keep a consistent complex goal without relying on a single individual being in change forcing it.