Xinjiang: Anti-Chinese riots in this Muslim province left several dead in early February. Turkic brethren in the former Soviet Union lend some moral support.
Tibet: With the Dalai Lama in exile and the Buddhist monasteries mostly shuttered, this Himalayan fastness will probably never see independence.
India: New Delhi has clung to a nuclear-weapons program largely because Deng’s China did, too
Hong Kong: Deng promised that the ‘dance hall girls will still dance’ after China’s takeover in July. But will they?
Vietnam: Its 1979 border war is not forgotten, and Vietnam has tried to rally a Southeast Asian security alliance against China
Russia: Deng healed the Sino-Soviet rift by settling a series of border disputes
Japan: Deng’s military modernization program eventually prompted Tokyo to reconsider its pacifist Constitution
South Korea: Deng was fading but not yet gone from the scene when Beijing finally recognized Seoul, in 1994
Taiwan: Deng laid down the party line–China wants to reunify peacefully but won’t rule out force
Phillippines: The Deng-era dispute over potentially oil-rich islands in the South China Sea is still unresolved
Modernizing the armed forces was one of Deng’s priorities, creating concerns that a “rising China” could tip the military balance in Asia.
Key to the Chart A Nation B Combat Aircraft C Naval Vessels D Tanks E Millions of Troops F Nuclear Warheads G Defense Spending as % of GDP A B C D E F G China 5,224 110 9,400 3.0 300+ 5.7 India 700 39 3,500 1.1 25 2.5 North Korea 730 26 4,200 1.1 n/a 25.2 Russia 4,500 299 17,000 1.5 6,000 7.4 United States 4,971 237 12,500 1.5 6,000 3.8
Deng’s greatest achievement may have been restoring a degree of normalcy to daily life. Hundreds of millions of Chinese are now able to change jobs, get divorced, take vacations, complain on talk radio and vote out their local government leaders. But about 3,000 are in prison for their political views, more than in any other nation.
Standard-of-loving indicators CHINA UNITED STATES People per telephone 36.4 1.3 People per television set 6.7 1.2 Literacy 78% 97% Fertility (CHILDREN PER WOMAN) 1.84 2.08 Life expectancy (YEARS) 68.08 75.99 Infant mortality (PER 1,000 BIRTHS) 52.1 7.88 Population 1,203,097,268 263,814,032 Annual population growth 1.04% 1.02% Urban population 30% 76% Unemployment rate (t) 2.9% (tt) 5.6% GDP per capita (U.S.$) $2,660 $25,900 (t) 1995 FIGURES. (tt) CHINESE GOVERNMENT FIGURE. SOURCES: THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION AND IMF. RESEARCH BY ANNA KUCHMENT AND DANTE CHINNI; GRAPHIC BY STANDORD KAY AND KARL GUDE
Deng’s economic reforms–decentralizing power and harnessing the profit motive–brought about a dramatic reversal of fortunes. But not all have benefited equally. The great coastal cities have boomed–while the interior has stagnated.
GRAPH: The Cadre Capitalists
Privatization encouraged thousands of bureaucrats to go into business.
State-owned Private Collectively owned** 1978 78% 22% 1995 34% 29% 37% **Partly Government-owned
