I think you misunderstood what I'm trying to say. I don't think it's about losing face. Nor about whether the government survives. It's about cultural momentum. Look at how hard it is to change policies in any government. Look at how long it took the US to get socialized health care, despite people clamoring for it for decades, and even then, that could be repealed by future administrations, as some GOP folks are demanding.
For the same reasons a startup is nimbler than a big corporation for changing things, larger countries are slower than smaller countries for making significant change. India is lucky because it's had a tradition of democracy and freedom for quite some time. They already had cultural momentum in that direction, so they don't need to change anything to align with what you want. Similar for Japan. China, you're asking them to reverse the pull of gravity.
I've worked in teams that were focused on creating big vision cultural and organizational change in big corporations. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it would be in a big government, especially one of China's size, and one where there is no easy allowance for diversity of opinions.
For example, China's central government is huge on trying to stamp out corruption. However, despite the number of executions they continually carry out for corruption matters and the dissatisfaction of the populace, it is logistically impossible to keep a handle on all of the regional and local governments. It's a huge complicated machine, and I'd warrant that it's even more complicated than the US government's operations, judging from what I've seen living in China.
For the same reasons a startup is nimbler than a big corporation for changing things, larger countries are slower than smaller countries for making significant change. India is lucky because it's had a tradition of democracy and freedom for quite some time. They already had cultural momentum in that direction, so they don't need to change anything to align with what you want. Similar for Japan. China, you're asking them to reverse the pull of gravity.
I've worked in teams that were focused on creating big vision cultural and organizational change in big corporations. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it would be in a big government, especially one of China's size, and one where there is no easy allowance for diversity of opinions.
For example, China's central government is huge on trying to stamp out corruption. However, despite the number of executions they continually carry out for corruption matters and the dissatisfaction of the populace, it is logistically impossible to keep a handle on all of the regional and local governments. It's a huge complicated machine, and I'd warrant that it's even more complicated than the US government's operations, judging from what I've seen living in China.