Father of Chinese HSR was also in prison for corruption despite creating one of the best rail networks in the world. In the UK, on the other hand, the HSR 2 project expended billions of dollars with nothing to show for it under an open democratic system. There was no corruption supposedly but no one was indicted, and no one knows where the money went.
There was monumental corruption. But it was all legalised so all above board and totally fine that the taxpayer is robbed while companies profited massively.
Hell, no one here seems particularly bothered that on their way out of government, the Tories sold off vast tracts of land already purchased for the project at massive losses for the sole purpose of preventing future governments from being able to easily reverse their decision.
People in the west are thoroughly brainwashed and broken to accept whatever shit their politicians wants to feed them. It is truly the perfect system for western elites born with silver spoons up their arses and all the right connections to be able to rake in massive profits while not needing to do any actual work.
The only thing the western elites are scared off is a foreign system that is superior and fairer. This is why it was obsessed with destroying the USSR and why it’s obsessed with destroying modern China.
A better deal for their subjects is an existential threat to the western ruling class.