Something to Ponder

[Sukerkin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19929620

As the hullabaloo of the American elections rings amongst the media of the West, perhaps it is good to consider some matters of importance that may well render all the emoting irrelevant?

 

[Bill Mattocks]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19929620

As the hullabaloo of the American elections rings amongst the media of the West, perhaps it is good to consider some matters of importance that may well render all the emoting irrelevant?

Surely you have not missed my drum-beating over the threat posed by China in recent years?

 

[Xue Sheng]

Wow....I am mentioned in the article...who know I was so famous in China

As to language, if there is a Chinese community in any area there is likely a Chinese school and if there is a Chinese school they give language lessons at a rather reasonable price. However if you don't know any Chinese you likely will not know about the Chinese school and the size of the Chinese community and educational background of those people in it can seriously impact the size of the school and the course they offer and to whom they offer them.

Now China

Before the Hong Kong return China had cities designated for commerce that could be considered unique when compared to every other city in China, I cannot remember them all off the top of my head but I believe there were 5 and 2 of those being Shanghai and Guangzhou. So the one country 2 systems thing was not new, it had been applied to at least 5 other cities in China prior to Hong Kong’s return. And China has already made it clear that Taiwan would fall under the same one country two system policies. Now go back about 20 years and there was a Chinese official that said that he had no doubt that China would more of a capitalist/communist system in the future but they (Government) had to regulate it because if left unchecked it would turn out very badly and you could end up with the worst parts of capitalism mashed together with the worst parts of communism... and shortly thereafter things started spiraling out of control as it applies to capitalism. And I have seen capitalism at its worst in China (think robber barons)

But never forget China is China and when Hong Kong was returned to China it all appeared to go rather well but what was not publicized all that well was the British insistence, against the wishes of the Chinese government in Beijing, that there should be a parliament made up of local Chinese that the Chinese government had to except... The response of Deng Xiaoping after several talks where he was being told he had to except the parliament and he was saying there can be no in place parliament when we take Hong Kong back was…. ok then if they are there when we get there we will kill them… that was the end of the discussion and there was no parliament when the Chinese took Hong Kong back. China can at any time change the rules as they see fit and the laws are also subject to the whim of those in charge in Beijing. However Deng Xioaping may not be the best example to look to as it applies to the modern leadership of China since Deng was one of the last of Mao’s people that was there from the beginning (and part of the Long March and also imprisoned by Mao during the Cultural revolution and survived). Deng is considered, by the Chinese, to be pretty tough both physically and politically he is directly responsible for the current leadership (Hu Jintao.) in China because it is who he wanted to take over, even though it did not happen right after he retired he did make sure it would happen later

Also until rather recently many in the US and I suspect in Europe did not have any idea what was really going on in China. Almost all of our general knowledge is based on the period between 1966 and 1976 (the Cultural Revolution) if that much and some based on old movies. And beyond that nothing until 1989 (Tiananmen Square, which went on much longer than we were lead to believe based on our news coverage), we really did not have much information and China was happy to lets us think whatever our media told us because it was to their advantage. So we were rather shocked at what we saw on camera in China in 1989 and that did not exactly look like what most of us thought it would look like based on our knowledge of the cultural revolution and old movies.

Go back only 7 years and I had co-workers who were absolutely shocked that my mother-in-law thought Albany (capital of NY) was small... they knew she was from Beijing but had no concept as to how big it was. And as mentioned in the article (and I see this all the time in Chinese Martial Arts) we tend not to take the time to understand things Chinese and try to make if fit our way of thinking and to be honest that generally ends up giving you a flawed view of things Chinese. The article does miss the age of China however from a Chinese POV; It is the longest continuous culture on the planet and is over 6,000 years old

So as things become more public in China there are more surprises to be had and what the Chinese have grown use to because it has been going on for years comes as a complete shock to us because we had no clue due to huge gaps in information that came out of China

And now all eyes are on Xi Jinping who could end up the Next President of China... we shall have to wait and see.

 

[Sukerkin]

Surely you have not missed my drum-beating over the threat posed by China in recent years?

:chuckles: Not at all, my friend. Drum beating heard and acknowledged .

I used to be more of the opinion that China was a sleeping dragon with no interest in the wider world but I am no longer so sure of that.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

:chuckles: Not at all, my friend. Drum beating heard and acknowledged .

I used to be more of the opinion that China was a sleeping dragon with no interest in the wider world but I am no longer so sure of that.

I see many possibilities. From China's point of view, many of them are understandable, but they are detrimental to us in the West to some extent.

Those who have read about the history of Japan's involvement in WWII might recall that prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan was in the process of being isolated from the world. The US and other Western nations had been basically colonizing the South Pacific for some time. Japan tried to do the same and was slapped down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_War#Tensions_between_Japan_and_the_Western_powers

In an effort to discourage Japanese militarism, Western powers including Australia, the United States, Britain, and the Dutch government in exile, which controlled the petroleum-rich Dutch East Indies, stopped selling iron ore, steel and oil to Japan, denying it the raw materials needed to continue its activities in China and French Indochina. In Japan, the government and nationalists viewed these embargos as acts of aggression; imported oil made up about 80% of domestic consumption, without which Japan's economy, let alone its military, would grind to a halt. The Japanese media, influenced by military propagandists,[29] began to refer to the embargoes as the "ABCD ("American-British-Chinese-Dutch") encirclement" or "ABCD line".
Faced with a choice between economic collapse and withdrawal from its recent conquests (with its attendant loss of face), the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters began planning for a war with the western powers in April or May 1941.
The key objective was for the Southern Expeditionary Army Group to seize economic resources under the control of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, most notably those in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, known as the "Southern Plan". It was also decided—because of the close relationship between the UK and United States, and the (mistaken)[30][31] belief the US would inevitably become involved[30]—Japan would also require an "eastern plan".

This ultimately led to war with the West. I am NOT defending Japan; not at all. I am merely noting what was occurring at the time.

Now we see China, which is on an acquisition spree for raw materials, challenging Japan, India, and Russia for control of certain islands and other assets. They are building up their military rapidly. They have purchased great quantities of land in various African nations and South America, and they are doing diplomacy in areas that we (the West, especially the USA) ignore. This is NOT GOOD.

I do not claim it will end in a military move by China. But I do see them as emerging from solitude to become not just a great trading partner and manufacturing powerhouse (and key holder of US debt), but also a global power of the sort that will eventually be able to claim primacy in any area they wish and get it.

It is a combined effort. Economic (they own everything), political (they are doing diplomacy and extending goodwill and loans/grants to many underprivileged nations in Africa and South America), and military (building up/modernizing their military and challenging various nations for supremacy).

Eventually, they will take Taiwan back; I think that is more about when than if. After that? Who knows?

 

[jezr74]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19929620

As the hullabaloo of the American elections rings amongst the media of the West, perhaps it is good to consider some matters of importance that may well render all the emoting irrelevant?

The article just seemed full of straw-man arguments in my opinion. I don't think anyone is surprised by China's ability to innovate in different areas than western culture is used to.