Ever since it crushed the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the party has vowed not to surrender its political monopoly. The investment boom and the globalization dividend of the last two decades allowed the Party to have its cake and eat it – maintaining its rule on the basis of economic prosperity, while failing to establish the institutions critical to sustaining such prosperity.
没有法治精神和政治问责，就不可能维持增长，这让中国共产党陷入了存在性难题。自从1989年在天安门广场镇压了民主运动之后，中共便一直紧抓政治垄断权不放。过去20年的投资繁荣和全球化红利令中共鱼与熊掌兼得——在经济繁荣的基础上保持着执政权，但中共并没有建立起维持繁荣所必须的制度。如今，繁荣已不可再持续了。