The success of the Chinese government over the foreseeable future will depend largely on its ability to resolve, or at least paper over, the following contradictions:
- The ideal: Marxism, a Western ideology with universal values. The reality: Chinese exceptionalism.
- The ideal: Marxism, a dynamic, forward-looking ideology. The reality: A culture that attaches great value to harmony and stability.
- The ideal: A decentralized, consumer-driven economy. The reality: Very extensive government intervention in the economy to promote stability and maintain a monopoly on power.
- The ideal: An economy that promotes innovation. The reality: Minimal respect for property rights for parties without government connections and severe limits on the free flow of information.
- The ideal: Encourage investment through a predictable system of taxation and commercial law. The reality: Government retains arbitrary powers; capital flees the country.
- The ideal: Eliminate endemic corruption. The reality: A one-party system, a politicized judicial system, and no freedom of the press.
- The ideal: Accommodate Hong Kong and Taiwan by tolerating different systems. The reality: Intolerance of democratic ideas in Hong Kong hardly encourages the notion of an improvement of relations with Taiwan.