Klaus Schwab Proclaims China a “Role Model” for Many Nations

China is a “role model” for many countries, according to World Economic Forum (WEF) boss Klaus Schwab, in a recent interview with Chinese state media. “I think we should be very careful in imposing systems,” Schwab added, “but the Chinese model is certainly a very attractive model for quite a number of countries.” 

The Chinese model is a one-party totalitarian dictatorship, imposing a socialist command economy. By recommending such a model for “a number of countries,” the WEF founder, 84, removes himself from any serious economic or political debate. On the other hand, Schwab is hardly alone in his praise for the Communist People’s Republic of China. 

“There’s a level of admiration I actually have for China,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in 2013. “Their basic dictatorship is actually allowing them to turn their economy around on a dime.” Trudeau is right about the dictatorship, but wrong that it can turn around an economy “on a dime,” especially in the direction of improvement. To say the least, dictatorships of any sort cannot boast of great economic success. 

Prime Minister Trudeau, the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, seems unaware that dictatorships stay in power by repressing the people, not by expanding their economic freedom. In his admiration for China, Trudeau has company south of the border. 

In 2020, former vice president Joe Biden proclaimed that the Chinese were “not bad folks,” and not even competition for the United States. The Delaware Democrat seems unaware that, as F.A. Hayek explained in The Road to Serfdom, under socialism, the worst get on top. So members of a Stalinist dictatorship are necessarily “bad folks.” For all but the willfully blind, Communist China is a competitor and adversary of the United States, whatever trade agreements happen to be in place. 

Biden, Trudeau, and Schwab seem ignorant of scholarly works such as The Black Book of Communism, which estimates China’s domestic victims at more than 60 million. A fair question for Biden, Trudeau, and Schwab would be: “has China ever done anything with which you disagreed?” The answer would clarify more than a few issues for the people.  

In the case of Klaus Schwab, one wonders why anybody continues to take him seriously. He’s produced nothing like The Road to Serfdom or Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom. He’s not a public official, yet he calls his outfit the “World Economic Forum.” After endorsing a Communist dictatorship as a role model, people in many countries should let him know what he can do with it.