China intensifies war against splittism
While we are all concerned and excited by the prospective rise of China, they do have problems. This article outlines a big one, the threat of "splittism." This could, in the mind of their leadership, lead to multiple provinces and geographic areas seeking to break away from China. Indeed, this is a palpable fear they have and explains their authoritarian tendencies while also showing them to be ardent supporters of the Westphalian state system at the same time the "West" is moving towards eroding such state sovereignity through "humanitarian interventionism."
This is not a triffling difference, but a major one as it highlights two opposed conceptual frameworks. By the way, Russia has similar concerns. These are driving forces behind their authoritarianism, but since so many countries are stuck with similar concerns, their responses to these "internal threats" makes a lot of sense.
Its not too easy to say they are fully wrong. A breaking apart of territory often leads to more war and violence than the methods employed to avoid the break up. So, the dichotomy seen by these nations is stability vs. freedom and centralized authority vs. democratic ideals which is often perceived as chaos. This bears monitoring...
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