Yes, Beijing has a master plan, but it's not a nefarious one to dominate the world. It's aimed at addressing China's own serious problems
The announcement that the Chinese government would invest $3 billion of its massive $1.2 trillion foreign reserves in the Blackstone Group has triggered hair-raising rumors of China's "real reason" for doing so, speculations that expose American naiveté more than Chinese perfidy. Most center on a darkly imagined Chinese "master plan," if not to dominate the world (quite yet), at least to control foreign assets in an insatiable desire to expand. China does indeed have a master plan, but it is not this.
This year, no major matter of Chinese policy can be understood outside the context of the Seventeenth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, scheduled for the fall. Held every five years, Party Congresses are the events at which senior leaders set the political agenda and reshuffle the lineup of current and future leaders. Social stability is critical to the success of these events, since social unrest could disrupt carefully nurtured plans for political transition, consolidation, and succession. That's why we now see more control over the media. This is also why China eschews rapid appreciation of the yuan, which could throw millions out of work and on to the streets.
Posted by The Dragon Lady, See full article at BusinessWeek.
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