"But in #China, #Gorbachev's legacy is seen in a different light, as it raises the specter of a historical event that has long been cited as a cautionary tale for the ruling Communist Party: the fall of the Soviet Union."edition.cnn.com/2022/08/31/chi…
"For an entire generation of Chinese leaders, however, Gorbachev has come to represent the perils of embracing democratic reforms, with officials long suggesting Communist-ruled China ...
... could face a similar fate to former ideological cousin the USSR if internal politics are left unchecked."
"A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, when asked for comment in a briefing Wednesday, said Gorbachev "had made positive contributions to the normalization of relations between China and the Soviet Union.""
"As news of the former leader's death trended on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Wednesday morning, many users expressed their feelings of witnessing history and the end of an era, but some took a harder line."
"The Soviet Union was destroyed by him and the generations after him," wrote one user, who also asked if Gorbachev would be "ashamed" to meet Communist thinkers Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin after death.
Others pointed sarcastically to how Gorbachev was loved by the United States and the West.
Prominent nationalist voice Hu Xijin in a post on Twitter Wednesday accused Gorbachev of winning "widespread acclaim in the West by selling out the interests of his homeland."
"State-run nationalist tabloid Global Times pointed to similar criticisms in an English-language article published Wednesday, in which it attributed the collapse of the Soviet Union to "the partial democratization of Soviet society under Gorbachev.""
"As a lesson for China's own governance, the Communist Party of China upholds its own socialist path with Chinese characteristics, underscoring political maturity and sobriety," the article said.
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