Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
IN PHOTO: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reacts as he speaks to supporters at a Labor Party function in Brisbane September 7, 2013. Labor party leader Rudd conceded defeat at national elections on Saturday, offering his congratulations to conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott who won a landslide victory, ending six years of turbulent Labor rule. REUTERS/Peter Barnes

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd doesn’t believe communism in China is starting to collapse. The Labor Party ex-leader rejected China expert David Shambaugh’s theory that the Asian giant will be abandoning its communist regime.

In an interview with the U.S. news network CNN, Rudd said the theory is “just dead wrong.” He told host Fareed Zakaria on Sunday that the “so-called China collapse-ism thesis,” which has spread worldwide since Shambaugh wrote his piece on Wall Street Journal in March, is not plausible.

Rudd also rejected fears that the U.S. and China would trigger military conflict over the tension at the South China Sea, explaining the parties involved do not have any interest to allow such major incident to occur. “From the Chinese side, that would upset the agenda in terms of their number one priority, which is to continue to transform the economy,” the former PM said.

“And secondly, from Beijing’s perspective, if they were to trigger conflict with the United States, the military realists in the People’s Liberation army know full well that they would all in probability lose hands down,” Rudd continued, adding the U.S. has no particular interest in going to war “by accident or design” in Asia. He suggested believers should take a cold shower before the idea gets out of control.

Shambaugh, a professor of international affairs and political science at the George Washington University in the U.S., wrote in March the Chinese authoritarian regime was starting to collapse. His “The Coming Chinese Crackup” essay presented Shambaugh’s predictions, including the downfall of political authority and administrative control in China.

He believed the end of Chinese communist rule has begun, and its demise would be “protracted, messy and violent.” Xi Jinping, president of China and the general secretary of the Communist Party, will be deposed in a power struggle or coup d’état , Shambaugh prophesised.

Contact the writer: a.lu@ibtimes.com.au

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