Rather than asking the abstract question of whether democracy would ever "work" in China, a more interesting question to me is whether we think governance in better on the mainland under authoritarian rule, or better in Taiwan under a functioning democracy. Which of the two set of politicians are trying to implement policies that will lead to better long term future for the people and which are trying to put up the best show for the next poll ? Authoritarian rule comes with negatives -inhumane quarantine rules, persecution of members of the free press and anyone with political ambitions that does not fall under the control of the Party are but a few examples. But it also comes with many achievements, mostly economical but also in the culture of the population. Many people will agree with me that you don't feel everyone is trying to cheat you while travelling through China nowadays (even in rural areas) which was not the case until quite recently (including the Hu-Wen era). I would argue that more political control under Xi has somehow led to a population that behaves with more civility towards each other. Whether that is a "good trade" is up for debate.
Rather than asking the abstract question of whether democracy would ever "work" in China, a more interesting question to me is whether we think governance in better on the mainland under authoritarian rule, or better in Taiwan under a functioning democracy. Which of the two set of politicians are trying to implement policies that will lead to better long term future for the people and which are trying to put up the best show for the next poll ? Authoritarian rule comes with negatives -inhumane quarantine rules, persecution of members of the free press and anyone with political ambitions that does not fall under the control of the Party are but a few examples. But it also comes with many achievements, mostly economical but also in the culture of the population. Many people will agree with me that you don't feel everyone is trying to cheat you while travelling through China nowadays (even in rural areas) which was not the case until quite recently (including the Hu-Wen era). I would argue that more political control under Xi has somehow led to a population that behaves with more civility towards each other. Whether that is a "good trade" is up for debate.