So asks an article here in The Financial Times Magazine on 20 September, 2013. This question has been posed a number of times before. But
is this time different – when China really stands at a crossroads, a historical
inflexion point of China's Communist Party (CPC)? 

The answer is undoubtedly yes, this time is very different. Critical corruption and
inequalities are sapping the credibility and any legitimacy of the Party. This
happens at a time when the country is fast changing tack, towards a nation of
consumers and more independently-minded middle class. China is churning out
some 7 million university graduates a year. By 2030, China will have 200
million of them, more than the current entire workforce of the United States.
The current mode of governance is near its sell-by date.

Against this foreboding mood of uncertainty are the
following realities –

(a) While social unrest and cynicism are rising, there is no
prevailing demand for regime change. Indeed, in the absence of any credible
alternative regime that works, the common sentiments tend to side with
"the devil you know". Besides, many are really proud of what the
country has so far managed to achieve, against all odds, in so short a time.
Successive longitudinal PEW Global Attitudes Surveys in China shows that the
vast majority of the Chinese people remain generally satisfied with the Chinese
government. This contrasts with the less satisfactory PEW ratings in a number
of leading democracies.

(b) Recent explosive revelations, notably the Bo Xilai
affair, have focused the Party's collective mind as its very survival is at
stake. All factions and stakeholders in the highest echelons of the Party are
now rallying behind President Xi to purge the Party of corruption and
self-aggrandizement. Even bigger tigers than Bo are now rumored to be
investigated. A sleuth of major structural, if not political, reforms, such the
reform of State-Owned Enterprises and of the household registration system
(hukou) which marginalizes the mass of migrant workers, are expected to be
unveiled at the forthcoming Party Plenum in November. If all goes out, this
should stand the Party in better stead.

(c) Although there are non-Communist political parties
enshrined in China's Constitution, these, such as the Revolutionary Committee
of the Kuomintang, the China Democratic League and the China Democratic
National Construction Association, are miniscule organs with scant following.
They cannot and have no wish to have any mandate to challenge the One-Party
rule. Indeed, there is a lot of debate (within Party think-tanks such as the
Party School) whether one-Party rules are ipso facto unstable. There are
examples of inherently unstable countries with different political parties
contesting to win elections. Likewise, there are those countries which have become
a paragon of success in terms of people's well-being and national advancement
(such as Singapore) where there is no prize guessing whether the same
overwhelming Party will continue to hold sway.

Nevertheless, while China is not expected to copy Western
models, the country will have to redouble her efforts to reform both
economically, socially and politically. President Xi said as much at the start
of the latest 18th Party Congress. Indeed, he used extreme language to describe
the urgency "on pain of demise of the country and the Party"".

The tasks ahead are herculean and the road is likely to be
bumpy. See my earlier analyses -"Is China Up to the Task" here and "Quest for the China Dream"
here 

Let's keep our fingers crossed for the coming Party Plenum
in November.