As I understand it, capitalism is used a tool by the Chinese planned economy to increase the power and well-being of the socialist state. It is kept locked in a cage and beaten down when it steps out of line. Deng realized the inherent growth and power of that growth that capitalism inherently espouses, and manipulated it. Truly bringing about a successful (ongoing) transitional phase from one to the other.
Completely false. The economy of the People’s Republic of China is not a planned economy - the vast majority of its economy is under the control of private corporations, and is not subject to government planning. Capitalism is not “locked in a cage” in China, for Capitalism is locking China in a cage, via constant labour abuses, extremely poor working conditions, plutocratic rule, ect. Furthermore, the “Communist” Party of China has no plans to recreate a planned economy, nor Socialism. In short, China is undergoing an NEP (state-capitalism) without end.
I believe this is the philosophy of liberalism. They say capitalism can be useful but the state must keep it in check. As long as government can ultimately keep the reins on capitalism and under control, you get the optimum prosperity and social welfare. China experienced great economic growth when it turned to economic liberalism.
The liberal/socialist dichotomy can’t be applied fruitfully to China. It’s a nation with a DOTP, led by the CPC, with an economy that is being constructed in a socialist way, that is China has capitalist dictatorship over large swathes of the means of production, and the CPC and ergo the proletariat are engaging in protracted class warfare with targeted nationalizations after an industry reaches the form of monopoly or a focus on infinite growth. This is why Chinese Marxists call it socialist construction rather than admitting to having achieved a socialist society. SOEs and private capital are battling for supremacy, and the CPC is utilizing those private industries to achieve national growth and national rejuvenation – letting their productive forces reach their limits prior to the stage of engaging in imperial extraction – and then socializing them.
There are sectors of China, namely the capitalists and rightists, that are attempting to steer China in the direction of infinite growth, monopoly, and imperialism. The CPC, and the political dictatorship of the proletariat, are there to struggle fiercely against them and socialize their resources whenever they have reached the highest stage of production they can vis a vi capitalist control. It’s disingenous to suggest that China’s economy is necessarily socialist or capitalist or liberal or whatever, its economy is a battlefield where class war is constantly being waged through nationalizations, asset seizures, executions, state-supported workers’ movements and protests, etc. Dialectics are at play here, with capitalism and socialism struggling for supremacy. Under the leadership of the CPC, socialism is winning, albeit perhaps more slowly than some would like.