My Government Expectations - Essay Example

My Government Expectations At a demographic level, China is home to roughly a third of the world’s population, as such, it is easy to see how the government is constantly under pressure to provide basic services as well as manage the rapidly growing economy and population. I have had the opportunity to visit several countries around the world such as the US and Canada, in addition I have studied extensively about government policies in many western nation more so those in Europe. It is with the benefit of such knowledge and my personal experience and understanding of the how the Chinese communist government’s functions that I seek to introspect on what I expect from my government on a day-to-day basis as well as in posterity. Essentially, one of the most basic services is health care and insurance, in China there is a government health insurance system that is similar to America’s Medicare . As a citizen, I expect to access government funded health insurance, in China there are two systems the labor insurance schemes (LIS) and government employee insurance scheme1. Depending on where I am working, I can be assured of cover and access to public medical facilities at a highly subsidized cost. However, I must concede that it is not as straightforward on the ground as it is on paper. There is a huge disparity between the level of care provided in public and private hospitals. In some cases, I am well aware that people shun government hospitals because the care is more efficient in the private clinics. Nevertheless, that is to be expected and is often the case in many countries but at the very least, I can be assured that I will have access to effective even if not the best medical care should I need it. As far as education is concerned, every Chinese child is guaranteed nine years of compulsory education that is sponsored by the government. In the 80’s, due to the high population pressure, the government abolished the tax-funded higher education2, today for anyone to get these scholarships they have to compete for them on the basis of merit or pay for private higher education. As such, I can expect that in the future, my child will have access to at least 9 years of education, which will make them at least employable or capable of acquiring a job. China is today reputed to be one of the highest sources of industrial pollution in the world. As a citizen, I expect to be accorded protection from the effects of environmental pollution, which stand to have long-term impacts on my environment and health. While conceding that the economy is highly dependent on the manufacturing industry, I nevertheless trust the government should work towards attaining a balance between economics of production and environmental security. This is because in the communist set-up of China, the government has significant power over industries unlike the case in the US where the capitalist system puts a lot of power in the hands of giant corporates. While conceding that the CPP has received a lot of negative publicity over its controlling and hands-on governance, I feel compelled to mention that to some extent this has worked to the benefit of the people. The state has more power over corporates and therefore, it can be more effective in regulating the rogue activity by private firms more interested in profits than the long-term impacts of their operations. As a Chinese citizen living abroad, the issue of protection is one of my direct concerns given that in the last decade there have been numerous cases people being discriminated or even otherwise mistreated in the absence of the protection normally accorded by their government. The concept of overseas protection is one that is taken very seriously by the government of China, there is a mandarin expression ‘haiwai gongmin baohu’ that loosely translates into overseas citizen protection3. It refers to a range of efforts by Chinese organizations to provide assistance for Chinese citizens working abroad; it came to prominence in 2004 after terror attacks in Afghanistan lead to the deaths of 14 Chinese workers. Since then there has been a worrying increase in the number of attacks on Chinese citizens outside the home country; between 2006 and 2010, their government has evacuated around 6,000 Chinese citizens from Chad, Haiti, and Lebanon. However, this is a moderate number compared to over 48,000 civilians evacuated from Egypt, Syria and Libya during the Arab spring in 20114. The government is aware that globalization is a critical component of efficiency in the 21st century and therefore it makes allowances for the fact that its citizens and organizations are bound to have a global scope. Therefore, I can feel confident working in any part of the world since I am sure that should there be a crisis; I can depend on my country's government to do its best to ensure that I am either evacuated or at least accorded protection and can access humanitarian aid. Like many Chinese people, I do not always feel I have enough freedom of expression and information, comparing the amount of information I can access online in the west with what was available to me in the China. It is clear a significant gap owing to the policy allows the Chinese government to censor the internet5. However, I am also aware of the fact that the situation is not currently as bad as it was five years ago and gradually the amount of freedom availed to the people is increasing. Therefore, I expect that by the end of the next decade or so, the government will have significantly reduced the levels of censorship imposed on the citizenry. Studies have shown that the seemly non-democratic way the Communist party operates may be opposed in the west but not all Chinese take such hardline position against it. Democracy is without doubt an excellent form of government but it should never be forced upon the people without first creating a background on which it can be supported. Therefore, in as much as I hope there will once be a democratic system much like the one in the west, I must recognize that the communist background of China cannot allow for a radical transition into American or European style of democracy. If recent events in the countries involved in the Arab spring are anything to go by, changing the political system forcefully or radically as some of the anti-government and pro-western activist proposes is bound to have negative consequences. The economic system in China is still predominantly socialist and therefore imposing a democratic and by extension, capitalistic system may be detrimental in the short term. Nevertheless, I recognize that at some point, the Chinese government will have to bow to the pressure both internally and externally and allow for full democratic space. I expect the government should, therefore, gradually pass policies that will facilitate the inevitable change albeit not radically since that is almost sure to backfire. In conclusion, like anyone else, I have high expectations of the government of my country, however, I must allow for the dynamism regional and global social economic systems, which may affect negatively or positively on its ability to deliver these expectations. I believe I can rest assured that the basic facilities such as health and education will be provided to me for the lowest possible cost under prevailing conditions and I can always hope things will improve in posterity. Works Cited Gill, Gates and Duchatel, Mathieu. Oversees citizen Protection: A growing challenge for China. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 2012. Web. 21 Sep. 2014. Bhatia, Sarah L. “China provides universal health insurance at a fraction of the cost”. Stanford Education News. May 2012. Web. 21 Sep. 2014. Drysdale, Peter. “The Chinese people’s trust in their government”. East Asia Forums. July 2011. Web. 21 Sep. 2014. Jialing Han. "Survey Report on the State of Compulsory Education Among Migrant Children in Beijing", in: Chinese Education and Society, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 29-55. 2005. Zerba, Shaio H. "China's Libya evacuation operation: a new diplomatic imperative—overseas citizen protection." Journal of Contemporary Chinaahead-of-print (2014): 1-20. Read More