My Take | China’s greatest lesson from the Soviet Union’s downfall: economy is key
- The root problem of the USSR’s demise was its failure to give its people enough wealth, both physically and spiritually
- China’s influence on the world stage and the support of its people at home are still largely built upon economic achievements
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, along with the economic pain and geopolitical retreat that followed in Russia, left China’s ruling elite with such a deep psychological scar that the consensus in Beijing till this day is that the People’s Republic of China should never repeat the fate of the Soviets.
In China’s study of the Soviet Union, one factor that has received increasing attention in recent years is the role of ideology in the regime’s downfall.
As the argument goes, the USSR disintegrated quickly under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev because his reforms disregarded the country’s history and undermined the very beliefs that held it together. The empire collapsed because the Soviet Communists lost their ideals and fighting spirit.
That is a valid argument because ideology played a vital role in the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, but it should be noted that the root problem of the nation’s demise was its failure to give its people enough wealth, both physically and spiritually.
If China wants to avoid the fate of the Soviets, it needs to grow its economy and deliver the fruit to its people – that was precisely the key lesson that Deng Xiaoping took from the downfall of China’s Communist neighbour.
