For 30 years, China has studied the fall of the USSR to avoid a similar collapse. They made three key decisions in Beijing to outlive their ideological cousin.
It was at the end of the year, 30 years ago, that three men went to a country estate to go hunting, enjoy a steam bath and discuss oil and gas reserves over a few sips of brandy.In retrospect, the collapse of the Union of Soviet Republics had happened slowly, the rot of corruption, oppression and secrecy eating away at the foundations of a communist dream.
"Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate?" Chinese leader Xi Jinping asked party officials in a leaked speech in 2012. By the final years, the USSR's economy was practically groaning with the costs of space and arms races with the US, and proxy wars in Latin America, Africa and Afghanistan.The Soviet Union's planned economy was centrally controlled, beset by inefficiency, waste and shortages of goods.
After decades of censorship and secrecy, Gorbachev said the time had come for increased government transparency and freedom of expression. With that in mind, Beijing's leadership has been far more careful to manage the flow of information within China., blocking or restricting access to Western sites, including Facebook, Google, Twitter and Wikipedia.
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