@Cowbee [he/they] I can't find the official interview (thought I'd saved it) but here is a good synopsis: #^https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/08/25/china-model-zhang-weiwei-interview/Second, economically, we call it a socialist market economy.In fact, it is a kind of mixed economy. But many countries also have a mixed economy. But the Chinese one is unique.It means the state owns so many resources, from minerals to land, everything. Yet, the right to use the land is flexible. It’s very often shaped by market forces.A good example of why China can be so successful in internet applications, even for those apps used in the United States, such as TikTok, Temu, or Shein.They are Chinese inventions, because it came from internal competition within China. And after this, they become very competitive internationally.What's being described here is really no different from any mixed economy that funds certain public services (so, basically every mixed economy in the first world). Only Americans look at the way China functions and think it's socialist, for the same reason so many Americans think universal healthcare is a form of socialism.Dialectics, materialist dialectics, very specifically is not about principle. It's about material conditions, not ideals. "We have a mixed economy, but we have the people in mind" doesn't make something socialist from a dialectical perspective, but quite the opposite. "At the same time, the private sector, like Alibaba Group, made the best use of this availability of top-notch infrastructure, to provide internet services and e-commerce to the best of their capability" on the other hand, very much makes the economy not socialist. This isn't an argument that can be had. You can't judge the way an economy functions based on vibes; it either is, or it isn't, and China's top scholars and officials are well aware that it isn't. "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" means "socialism in the future, theoretically".
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