Interesting post by the OP. But I would would like to see a deeper analysis.
People here often talk about "The Chinese system" or "the western democratic system". But I think these labels are too generalised and simple. What is the "Chinese system"? does it refer to the style of PRC governance? or does it refer to the overall encompassing social mechanism that underpins the Chinese society? If it is this mechanism, then we can only analyse it by breaking it further down into different parts and elements and analyse them separately. A society, including its governance mechanism, is complex and if we don't analyse them at a deeper level, then our analysis can be flawed.
For example, the original article mentions the low crime rates in the PRC, which is true. Then it seems to make a cause-effect correlation between crime rates and the style of governance, i.e. "The Chinese System". However, is the low crime rates in the PRC an effect/consequence of its government? their justice system? or is there are factors, such as culture, that give rise to low crime rate? What about other country, (S Korea or Japan or Qatar) , with low crime rates? is it the result of their government or are there other factors such as, cultural, economical or religious factors? I'm not saying PRC crime rates is not a result of CCP or their governance. I'm asking whether their are other important factors that needs to be taken into consideration. Because if there is, our analysis would be flawed without taken them into consideration. It wouldn't be right to just say "the Chinese system" produced low crime rates. That would be too generalised and oversimplified.
So it is very important to break down the the complex social mechanism and governance into its different parts, rather than just starting from the generalised notion of "the Chinese system" and trying to make correlations from there. It is especially important when trying to identify and correct negative elements in society.
Consider the next example of bribe and corruption used in the OP. Is corruption in the PRC caused by "the Chinese system"? is the lower corruption rate in Western democracy the results of their" democratic system"? due to their more "transparent" system as always argued by some people? Or are there other, more specific factors in society?
I personally think that the average Japanese civilian is more honest than the average civilian from the PRC. But is this the result of their government? or is it the result of other social factors? I'm not sure, but I think it would be too generalised to say this Government system produce more honest people and that Government produce more corrupt people. To have a proper analysis, we must try to find these deeper and more specific factors.
This also mean that we shouldn't make the generalised notion of "the western democratic system either" (or any other system). There are some good things about the western "system". But we need to look and analyse it in their deeper, more specific elements. If those specific elements are good, then adopt them if they are appropriate. If there are bad elements in your government, then identify them and eliminate them. I never liked the debate about "this system" vs "that system". This system have achieved this and that, and that system failed this and that. Societies and their governance style is so much more complex and we should analyse it on a deeper level in their more fundamental parts and elements. That's why we need specialists who are not only political theorists, but we also need sociologist, anthropologist, economists, statisticians, psychologists and heck, even philosophers.
