From 'How China Escaped Shock Therapy' it seems that China may have considered shock therapy and neoliberalism, but they rejected it because of their long tradition of state ownership of many industries, which had served the country well for centuries. Russia is capitalist, but has a lot of state industries too because it feels under threat from the West, and although state industries may be less efficient, they are more robust. Because of Western antagonism Russia has aligned with China and many other socialist countries around the world.
We have to have competition to set prices, otherwise they may rise, but when you go into extreme competition, as in neoliberalism, there is a race to the bottom, which means that far too many people get to live harsh, miserable lives. There must be a middle way, as social democracy and MMT shows. The Nordic countries have a good model.
.After meeting in Beijing, China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin released a lengthy joint statement clarifying the ideological divisions of the new cold war: Eurasian calls for multipolarity, cooperation, sovereignty, and “redistribution of power in the world” against US unipolar hegemony and interventionism.
Without Washington's tireless work, and Europe's cluelessness, this alliance wouldn't have been necessary.
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