At top right, the headline reads: “Premier Wen Jiabao accompanied by Gov. Ma Ying-jeou pays a visit to Taiwan.” (In other words, Taiwan has already been absorbed into China.)

If Wen Jiabao is still premier, it can’t be too far into the future since the oldster will reach the Politburo’s official retirement age of 68 in a couple of years.

It’s almost April Fool’s’ Day, and here’s a mock edition of the People’s Daily Overseas Edition newspaper written at some date in China’s future. This satire is finding its way around on the internet.

It’s interesting that headlines play off not only natural interest in China growing ever stronger but also in seeing punishment wrought on its perceived enemies. Japan is abolished in a big quake, and the bombs fall repeatedly on the United States.

It appears - before the Olympic torch incident in Paris and the Korean reaction to the Seoul demonstrations - that the Chinese saw Uncle Sam and Japan as enemies Number One and Two respectively. Post-Paris and -Seoul, it would be interesting to see if these rankings have changed.

Successful implies already grown and mature.

Singapore is still not a democracy, and that island state is one of the largest economies in the world. How do you explain that?

No, it is not one of the largest economies on the world. It is not even in the top twenty. It is one of the most prosperous countries in the world with a high per capita income.

Looking at the CIA Factbook list of countries ranked by per capita PPP GDP, the top forty is dominated by city-states, petro-states, island tax havens, and Western democracies. I did not notice any large, authoritarian nations among the world’s most prosperous economies. Not saying that democracy is a prerequisite to a developed economy for large nations, but the two seem to go hand in hand. South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are not Western-style democracies, but neither are they authoritarian. Democracy may be the flower, rather than the seed of economic development in large countries.

Just because Linkd is delivering news you don’t like doesn’t make Linkd an apologist.

I agree with Linkd’s assessment of how China’s economy is an integral part of the world economy and how little power the “free world” has to influence it at this point. I also agree that the West does NOT have a monopoly on a universal model of governance and economy for the rest of the world. Indeed, look at the pathetic track record of trying to shove democracy down the throat of the Middle East - a region which overwhelmingly prefers authoritarian forms of government, whether by direct choice or indirect choice.

With that said, the “free world” so to speak should indeed continue to put soft (diplomatic) and, when necessary, hard (trade, military) pressure on China to play nicely. For example, the Korean government should indeed find, prosecute, and deport Chinese thugs for illegal behavior. If similar forms of punishment happen often enough, even the media-insulated Chinese will get the message that their behavior is counter-productive.

Remember one thing : the CCP’s greatest fear is from a revolution within. The easiest paths to revolution are economic hardships and post-war fallout. The CCP will therefor do everything it can to prevent either one from happening, thereby giving the “free world” the necessary leverage to influence Chinese behavior.

Russia is a model, not the best one. It may be suitable for cultures that favor strong-man politics over egalitarian democracy. And it will likely evolve with time. Too soon to tell.