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Recession in China Could Sink Regime

Regime worries as angry workers take to the streets

By Kristina Loew, Newser User

Posted Nov 18, 2008 5:54 PM CST

(Newser) – Beijing's grip on power in recent years has relied on a simple agreement with its citizens: "Tolerate our authoritarian rule and we'll make you rich,” writes Joshua Kurlantzick in the New Republic. But with the nation's economy on the rocks, that agreement is now breaking down. If Beijing's $586 billion stimulus package fails, the ensuing unrest will make Tiananmen Square look like small potatoes.

"While, in the US, a financial failure would simply mean another dent in George W. Bush's reputation, in China it could mean the breakdown of the entire political order," writes Kurlantzick. Already, signs of unrest are emerging in the middle class over falling house prices in cities such as Shanghai. "These types of protests, with urban people, this is what the government is really worried about," says a real estate expert. "These are bankers, doctors, professors, people with real clout."

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Chinese police officers stand guard as hundreds of workers gather outside a government building in southern, Oct. 17, 2008. Global slowdown has begun hurting Chinese manufacturers. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Chinese police officers stand guard as hundreds of workers gather outside a government building after a large toy factory closes in southern China Friday, Oct. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

In this March 5, 2008, file photo, workers labor at a stockpile of steel in Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province. (AP Photo)

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As the economy turns sour, protest is rising. Many young Chinese have never even lived through an economic downturn. - Joshua Kurlantzick, The New Republic

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Recession in China Could Sink Regime