WASHINGTON - For more than 30 years, free and open markets have propelled China's labor-driven growth and lifted more than 200 million of its citizens out of rural poverty. But America's recent economic downturn has hit China hard. Exports from its booming trade sector dropped 17.5 percent in January from a year ago. In the past several months, an estimated 20 million rural Chinese migrant workers have lost their jobs.
China's rising unemployment could lead to increased social unrest, and challenge the authority of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Throughout 30 years of liberal reform, the CCP has justified its authoritarian grip through the promise of economic advancement.
If it can't maintain the steady growth it's promised, experts fear the country's leaders might bolster their legitimacy by other means, such as exploiting Chinese nationalism and directing popular discontent toward outside targets.
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