The first and most consequential casualties of any dictatorship are truth and freedom of expression.
The Chinese Communist Party and its leader want to stay in power for a very long time. The party is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year under the slogan “Follow the Party Forever.” And Xi Jinping plans to be dictator for life. This is unhappy news for the Chinese people and for the world. Dictatorships are oppressive and inefficient at home, and aggressive abroad. And personal dictatorships are particularly bad.
All Communist parties have ruled as dictatorships. They initially excused it as a temporary necessity because they came to power through national convulsions: In Soviet Russia, China, and Vietnam through civil war, in Eastern Europe through the Soviet occupation after World War II, and in Cuba through a military coup.