Why does the PRC permit foreign investment and private ownership in its markets? The theory, at least, is that China was a poor and colonized country; in order to grow its productive forces, alleviate poverty, and reach a moderate range of material wealth to enable it to /

survive the pressures of international capitalism, it would "chain" its burgeoning bourgeois class to the Party and strictly oversee them.

Note that cooperation with (and monitoring of) the national bourgeoisie was part of the initial plans of the PRC, and not bolted on by /

revisionists. It can be seen in the PRC's flag. The Wǔxīng Hóngqí has five stars. In 1949 in the speech "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship," Mao explained that the small stars represent the four revolutionary classes: the working class, the peasantry, /

the urban petit-bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie. The use/suppression of the national bourgeoisie was critical in allowing the CPC to overcome the Japanese invaders, and to suppress warlordism.

The theory adopted by the reformers which has been consistently criticized /

in the West, compared to the revisionist Glasnost, etc., was that, in order to continue to compete with Western capitalists, capital infusions from the West (which had stolen so much of the wealth of the colonized world) was required. To lure capital into the country,

the CPC established a number of regulatory policies allowing limited market involvement and partial control of the economy by capitalists. However, the CPC maintained State Control Boards in every enterprise, as well as an unlimited right to the instant repossession of land /

and productive forces without compensation.

I'm not talking about the material reality of the situation in the PRC; having only lived there for a year a long time ago, I don't have the kind of direct experience to form a real argument as to the "state" of /

the PRC. I did see beggars, but I never saw anyone homeless. I did see a lot of what looked like very unsafe labor practices, but I did not do a detailed economic investigation to comprehend how and where the labor struggle was progressing. /

Since the election of Xi Jinping as General Secretary in 2012, the instances of arrest, execution of, and expropriation from the national bourgeoisie and corrupt party members has grown enormously.

I myself witnessed corruption of the State electric company, or what I was told /

was that corruption: that electricity was cut off and held for ransom while bribes were solicited to "repair" it. The CPC itself acknowledges that there was massive corruption to be fought in the countryside. Corrupt party members were held accountable. Graft of public funds /

in excess of 50,000 RMB (roughly $7,000 dollars US) is particularly strictly punished. High-ranking Party officials such as Yao Gang have been investigated and punished by the PRC's anti-graft agency. Since 2015, the anti-graft agency has been much more active, punishing corrupt/

officials. Indeed, in many public and private speeches, President Xi has noted that corruption and the stain of corruption plagued the perception of the Party in the PRC.

So, whether or not the red flag is still flying, there is at least a sound theoretical reason for /

the entrance of foreign capital in to the PRC. If the CPC is correct, and this capital can be CONTROLLED by the PRC regardless of its connections to foreign imperialism, then it truly can become the "workshop of the world," and then turn off access to key products to bring /

the capitalist nations to their knees. Which may or may not be happening now, with the full nationalization of critical industries such as rare earths mining and the increased tensions over HK and the ending of the SEZ in Shenzhen.