Thank you that was a good read. A nice perspective from someone who is considered "Western" but has studied and knows Xi well. There was an interesting point m

Thank you that was a good read. A nice perspective from someone who is considered "Western" but has studied and knows Xi well. There was an interesting point made, that even though personal freedoms are being curtailed, party is consolidating its power, and ideology is emphasized more, those who reach economic prosperity will somehow demand or seek freedom and will push back. I think that's been the promise of Western-style capitalism + democracy -- we get some market capitalism going, with all its ills but that's ok, soon enough democracy will arrive. But what if it is doesn't. What if this authoritarian mode can lead to a more efficient and effective system. (More brutal of course for individuals). That point was slightly touched in in regard to military, quoting a Bloomberg contributor, James Stavridis, a four star general ("a military under a single long term rule might have an advantage of set of figures that keep getting reshuffled every 4 years). But what if it is also economic efficiency too.