A general view of buildings in the abandoned Qingquan Steel plant, which closed in 2014 and became one of several so-called zombie factories, in Tangshan, China, on Jan. 26, 2016. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Commentary
Many Western journalists, commentators, and politicians express fear of the ability of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to exert complete political and economic control. They see it as a competitive edge China has over the seemingly chaotic, market-oriented approaches of the Western democracies. But they could not be more wrong. Beijing’s insistence on centralized control is, in fact, a source of economic weakness, and that is already clearly evident.
