China is steadfastly reorganising its military might to advance its agenda of becoming the number one economic power of the world, making its defence system a key tool in the strategy for global dominance. With that objective in mind its revised National Defence Law (NDL) has come into effect from 1 January 2021. The intention of the reform is to “defend national interests both at home and abroad.” The new NDL expands the power of China’s armed forces, headed by President Xi, to mobilise military and civilian resources.
This will enable Xi to tackle with an iron hand both growing dissidence within the country and meet challenges from the USA and the Quad grouping comprising India, Australia, Japan and the USA. It also weakens the role of the State Council, China’s Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Li Keqiang. The Cabinet used to formulate military policy which has now been handed over to the Central Military Commission, the overall high command of the two million-strong People’s Liberation Army headed by Xi.
There have been several recent instances of China’s handling of its dissidents within the country, one of which is the disappearance of billionaire Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba. Ma has not been seen in public for a while, fuelling concerns about his safety amid his ongoing conflict with the Chinese government. He failed to appear for the final episode of his own talent show Africa’s Business Heroes in November 2020 and has not made a public appearance since then.
Only a few months ago, the Chinese government had stopped an IPO of his Ant Group after the billionaire criticised China’s financial regulators and state-owned banks in October last year. He had criticised the regulators for “stifling innovation” and said Chinese banks are like “pawn shops”. The country’s government has also launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba in December 2020 after regulators earlier told Ant Group to restructure its operations.
Economists across the world are predicting that China’s GDP can become bigger than the US GDP by 2028 in nominal terms. Countries without ownership of technology will face difficulties to deal with a vastly powerful, both militarily and economically, China. The uprising in Hong Kong was a clear indication of unrest within. Yet, Beijing could blatantly suppress the protests and the whole world watched helpless, including the US. India, on the other hand, does not know where to place itself. For instance, Chinese military intrusions into Indian territory at Leh during the lockdown period made the Indian government hit back by banning a few Chinese apps. Interestingly, not only have some of the prominent apps returned to India, the Union government has awarded a huge contract to Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company Limited for the construction of a 5.6 km underground stretch from New Ashok Nagar to Sahibabagh of the Delhi-Meerut RRTS project. Chinese banks have also been granted licenses by RBI for full scale operations in India.
Jack Ma is a great example. The future portends ill for all those that oppose China. Standing up to the might of that dragon would be very difficult. It is time to brace for battle or cave in and be servile.