China as a country has grown significantly since the takeover in the years after the Chinese Civil War, where the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) was able to control most of modern day China under Mao Zedong. The party recognizes three major leaders during their time, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and current leader Xi Jingping, where the party tightened its grip with Zedong and Jingping, Xiaoping was able to allow a softening economic and political sphere that is being erased in recent news. Over the past few years and especially this week, China has not allowed many different people to leave the country in a bid to strengthen its control.

China is currently strengthening its control both politically and economically in order to keep its control for as long as possible. 

Under the Jinping presidency, China has strengthened its grip on a lot of society through various different means. One that has become more common is the travel bans that have been imposed over recent years, recent bans have come as well as the use of surveillance has come as a recent string to make sure they can keep their power. This oppression of the Chinese people is hurting many people, especially now after a revision of the institution of  ‘social credit scores’ that tries to show how ‘trustworthy’ a person or business is to the CCP. This strengthening of power and grip on the Chinese people and everything in between has squeezed out a lot of abilities that people can undertake and with a bad credit score could see movement and job availability revoked. This is having a severe effect on the people of China and the economy that the international community trade with everyday. 

The Chinese have also stricken down on their economic sphere too. The free economic zones have become less and less as time has gone on, with many places in China that once had semblance of free trade is no longer the truth. The use of obtaining power through strength is here too, where China is trying to protect its strong industry and make its goods more valuable to not just the outside world, but also within China. This is especially the case after the crash of the largest real estate firms, in the summer of 2021. This protectionism has come as a long string in Asian countries within the past few centuries, where a belief in protectionism and stability make international trade very difficult within certain countries and especially China. These combined factors and a hint of belief that free trade could allow the CCP to lose grip, well it almost looks like their hands were tied behind their backs to do something like that. 

The strength that the CCP projects is down to their odd Authoritarian regime that needs control and structure to make sure it doesn’t topple. It’s also no surprise that this comes during the months that Tiananmen Square happened, as the CCP tries to make sure that its people believe nothing happened during the months of April to June 1989. As China strengthens its grip, it’s going to hurt many people and markets, which need to be fought for their protection and need. Protesting and helping all those in the struggle to free themselves from oppression is what the West needs to do for the Chinese people.