[b6]

> it may have positive benefits for Chinese citizens because government officials can be blacklisted for corrupt behaviour

I understand the Guardian's reporter needs to report what people said, but for the love of god, could they please stop giving support to this absurd notion that "corruption" crackdowns in China have anything to do with corruption? They are almost always about power consolidation.

[geoalchimista]

Couldn't agree more with you. I suspect that their reporters either have a very poor understanding of what a totalitarian state is, or they just couldn't be bothered to visit any place beyond Beijing and Shanghai (which represent < 5% of China) for field studies.

[dnomad]

What's really strange are Westerners who unilaterally deem China totalitarian, a sentiment not shared by most Chinese themselves. You wonder if people will ever outgrow the need to invent a boogeyman to legitimize their own dire circumstances. Imagine, victims of one of the most profoundly inequal systems in the world railing against Communism/Socialism/China/that-other-system.