Chinese Communism is now 60 young

 - Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

I

The mighty Soviet state fell 1991, leaving all other communist regimes and left parties in total disarray. One of the remaining communist states China have adopted tactics to outwit the circumstances and stay on to face anti-communism, but has also imbibed capitalist virtues. Beijing has celebrated 60 years of Communist leadership by staging the biggest military parade ever seen in Beijing. Some 5,000 troops, 500 military vehicles and a fly-past by 150 fighter jets and bombers sent a reminder to the world of the hardware at the disposal of this new economic superpower.

As it was in Soviet Union, vast lines of tanks, soldiers and missile launchers are being paraded through the capital Beijing. The parade passed down the Avenue of Eternal Peace towards the Communist leadership in Tiananmen Square. The military parade, showcasing previously unseen missile technology was followed a drive-by inspection of the armed forces and a speech by President Hu which lauded China's progress. President Hu Jintao has appeared on the rostrum at Tiananmen Square in a black Mao-style tunic, seen by analysts as a symbol of his control of the military. He was joined by his predecessor Jiang Zemin, Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior leaders. After a 60-gun salute, the Chinese flag was formally raised in the centre of the historic square - where revolutionary leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.

Much of central Beijing was shut down and unprecedented levels of security were deployed, with paramilitary police among 10,000 personnel on the capital's streets. Security forces have been deployed in force across Beijing, ahead of a pageant featuring ordinary citizens, which will also take place in Tiananmen Square. Roads have been blocked off, the international airport closed and the subway disrupted. Many shops and businesses have been closed along the route and a new portrait of Mao Zedong has been installed in Tiananmen Square.

National Day is an annual highlight for the Chinese government, but extra effort has been made to mark the 60th anniversary of what China sees as the start of its transformation from an impoverished country into a global contender. On the eve of the festivities, the country's leaders held a dinner for 4,000 people in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Premier Wen Jiabao praised China's development and said he was looking forward to celebrating "the centenary of New China" in 40 years' time. 

  II

Ordinary people were banned from the square in Peoples’ China - they were told to stay at home and watch the ceremonies on TV. Some 30,000 people have been invited to watch the events, but others are being encouraged to stay at home and watch it on TV to "avoid complications". President Hu Jintao abandoned his usual suit and appeared dressed in a dark Mao tunic. Speaking from atop Tiananmen Gate, from where Mao proclaimed the birth of modern China in 1949, Hu said it was a day to cherish. "We have triumphed over all sorts of difficulties and setbacks and risks to gain the great achievements evident to the world," he said. "Today, a socialist China geared toward modernisation; the world and the future towers majestically in the East."

The parade was a source of pride to some Beijing residents. "I think all 1.3 billion people are happy about this because of our standard of living," said 53-year-old man. "When you compare with 30 years ago... back then people's stomachs were empty. Now we have really made it to a higher level." One elderly woman said she was in the square 40 years ago. "Chairman Mao arrived in the back of a truck. There was no colour, everything was grey. Today it's is unbelievable," she said. "We can show the world how powerful we are."

Not every citizen is happy or satisfied that China is staging mass celebrations to mark 60 years since the Communist Party came to power. China's government feared unemployed migrant workers could agitate for political change, leading to social unrest across the country. There are no independent unions or other non-government organizations in China that could organise a national protest movement. China is also spending money on a series of projects, including retraining, to help migrant workers find new jobs. And just in case this does not work, the country's leaders have instructed the security services to watch carefully for any signs of unrest. But these are mostly about local issues that have not yet threatened the stability of China or its government.

Migrant workers are not taking it out on China's leaders. Government officials first started linking unemployment and social unrest at the end of last year when the economic crisis began to bite. Foreign consumers had less money to buy Chinese-made goods, forcing factories to close down and unemployment to rise. Even the government admits that some factories closed without paying their workers what they were owed. This has led to an increase in labour disputes. China's courts heard nearly 100,000 in the first three months of 2009, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper. This figure is more than 50% up from last year. The Supreme People's Court confirmed the number of these cases had increased. 

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Away from the meticulously-planned processions, protests broke out over corruption, social injustice and poverty, there are sub-nations within China demanding re-independence; Xinjiang, Taiwan and Tibet persist on freedom. As China marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, many people in Taiwan will not be celebrating what for them is the loss of a civil war. They will instead see the event as a reminder of a major turning point in history that dramatically affected their lives. Outside mainland China, Taiwan is the place most directly affected by Communist China's founding on 1 October 1949. The Nationalist or Kuomintang (KMT) army led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek retreated to the island after its defeat by Communist troops. About two million refugees from China, including hundreds of thousands of soldiers, fled to the island - changing its political, economic and social structure, and leaving behind a legacy still strong today. 

The celebrations focussed on social harmony and integration among China's ethnic minorities. However, there was no reference to the bloody unrest in Tibet in 2008 or in the Muslim Uighur province of Xinjiang last summer, in which hundreds died. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the global economy is expanding again and financial conditions have improved significantly and the global recovery is being led by Asia, where economies have "withstood the financial turmoil much better than expected." But gains are now being seen in developed economies, where "financial market sentiment and risk appetite have rebounded", it added.

Soviet communism ended in 1991 but China continues to hold the fort in vain to push through its communist agenda with market economy and foreign investors around. Chinese communism may have crossed 60 years of progress and problems, but he western capitalist regimes could counting the years the Chinese leaders would be guarding their Wall more. In six decades China has been transformed from a backward peasant society into the greatest manufacturing economy in human history. China and the US are bound together and are now interdependable. The president, speaking from the same spot where Mao Zedong had stood 60 years ago, claimed China had a bright future, had made global economic strides and would unite all cultures and ethnicities within it.  Will the capitalist world let China achieve it objectives, especially when G20’s arrival as the global capitalist forum has been accepted by its member Beijing as a forerunner for global progress, climate order and peace? China should make a statement about the possible future communist course and the onward march of Chinese communism. 

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Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Specialist on State Terrorism

Independent Researcher in International Affairs, the only Indian to have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation in South Asia.