The People’s Republic of China has progressively adopted the capitalist system. The Communist Party ruling the country has shifted its ideology, abandoning collectivism to devote itself more to both the defense of national interests and economic development.

In writing his “Opinion on Strengthening the United Front Work of the Private Economy in the New Era,” President Xi Jinping’s aim was to link these two goals. Following on from what he envisioned at the 19th Congress (2017), a new body, the United Front, has been tasked with ensuring that the pursuit of profit does not undercut national interests. To achieve this, he appointed a Party delegate to the board of each company.

This development, which some Westerners misinterpret as a Communist whim, is merely the Chinese version of “economic patriotism.”

The Chinese economy is beginning to experience offshoring to Vietnam, India and other Asian countries; a phenomenon anticipated by Karl Marx and which has partially destroyed Western middle classes over the past thirty years. The Communist Party does not intend to follow the same path and put at risk the tremendous progress that has been made by its country.