No one is immune from Beijing’s ‘gravity machine’

By EmmaZahn on Thu, 12/12/2013 - 2:41pm |

Deng Xiaoping was fond of quoting the ancient Chinese proverb “Tao guang yang hui”, which is generally rendered: “Hide your brightness, bide your time.” The idea was to keep China’s capabilities secret until the moment was right to reveal them. Until then, the priority was to raise incomes and integrate the country into the global economic system.

Now China is comfortably the world’s second-largest economy and, quite possibly, on its way to becoming the largest. In Xi Jinping it has a leader whose articulation of a China Dream – “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” – is explicitly aimed at recapturing national greatness. The time for false modesty, it seems, is over.

URL:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/32470bd8-619d-11e3-b7f1-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2nHz56o3Q