The global financial crisis and China's domestic and international political options

The global financial crisis has convinced the Chinese leadership of their country’s rapid empowerment and capacity to more easily assert its influence and push forward its interests on the world stage, and in particular in East Asia. Several domestic and international trends have compelled the Chinese government to adapt and adjust its policies. The global financial crisis has, on the whole, made the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership all the more determined to stick to its authoritarian, state-led and state-centered development strategy. However, with the blessing of the CCP propaganda organs, the Chinese official media have been only too happy to embark on this theme to better highlight and legitimize the specificity of China’s path to economic and political modernization and its opposition to "Western democracy." In any case, the CCP’s understanding of this "consensus" can be summed up by the two following political principles and objectives: party-state-led capitalism and micro-management of political life.