This notion of "China's version of freedom" is old news for this Singaporean.

I've been told this my whole life as a kid aspiring to live/work in the US. That "real freedom" isn't the 1st or 2nd amendment; it's the freedom to walk safely at midnight. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/business/china-covid19-freedom.html
It's the age-old tradeoff between security and liberty that Ben Franklin mused about.

Yes I am a China hawk. Yes I think civil liberties and human rights must be safeguarded. But we ignore "basic freedoms" at our peril.

China's model looks very appealing to those without it.
And if all the West can provide is chaos, disorder, a life without dignity, crime, no social safety net, institutional decay, corruption, a divided social fabric, then the 21st century will ultimately belong to China.

There's a saying in Chinese that goes 泥菩萨过江, 自身难保 .
Direct translation: When the mud Buddha crosses the river, it can’t protect itself.

It's a proverb that warns people that they can't help others when they themselves are drowning. The China model will look more appealing as long as the West remains a mud Buddha.
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