As bad as Mao got with the cruelty, Japan's plans for the country would have ended up worse and did end up worse. Remarkable really.
Mao and the CCP did barely anything to fight the Japanese. They were too busy purging each other in the Loess Plateau and growing opium to fund themselves. Mao himself later admitted that he wouldn't have stood a chance without the Japanese invasion, because his forces were completely exhausted after the Long March and on the eve of the invasion. That Japanese designs on China and the rest of Asia were even worse doesn't mitigate any of Mao's actual deeds.
No, no they are not. In no way could you compare the two states at all throughout their history given context. Especially not now.
China’s army and police is mostly for show and can barely extend across the entire country, they can barely operate currently in one front if they get to that point. The emergence of an angsty middle class born out of budget cuts and increased stratification is the main threat to china’s existence if some oligarch yahoo takes the reins. The emergence of an independent trade union movement connected to their New Left, like the Utopia-dwelling Jasic organizers, indicates they are just as vulnerable to collapse as we are—just with less money and security to show for it.
I'm not claiming that China is West Korea (though it's certainly heading in that direction), but China's internal security forces are real and substantial. You should not underestimate their powers and resources.
The biggest threat to the CCP's existence is its infighting, especially as the economy continues to lose momentum - and even goes into reverse - under the current leader. This will lead to the CCP no longer being able to deliver *policy*, and increasingly relying on nasty things to stay in power. But even that would be at risk, since Xi will only get older and more senile, and the party elite will need to know who can serve them.
A lot of people had been speculating about the Latin Americanization of China, and I'm convinced that's all but set in stone at this rate. The question is now: which Latin American country will China resemble?
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