CHINA—GOOD OR BAD FOR THE UNITED STATES?
By Sy Schechtman
One of civilization’s prime assets is ancient and modern Chinese input and wisdom. But today
this impressive, massive system
of political and economic governance
is front and center as the world’s
enigmatic dilemma, much as, almost a century ago, Winston Churcill’s depiction of Czarist Russia’s Russian Bear image as an enigmatic mystery “wrapped in a
shroud” and concealing much anxious possibilities not exactly fraught with universal
peace and security. Of course one can
find significant positive as well as
negative trends in any political record, especially in the almost 3500 year period of Chinese history, but in
the last century at least much innocent human life has been destroyed in
the ideological end game many radical political leaders hide behind—that “the end justifies the
means.” And which the present
Communist regime evidently is not
reluctant to follow, as the violent governmental
crackdown in 1989 in Tianamen Square killing an estimated large body of protesters—reliable guess
estimates varying between 300 to 400
hundred (official) to the student protesters
figure of three to four thousand
young adults killed.
Evidently, in a system that has the façade of socialist
equality much wealth now is being directed
for nationalist prestige purposes. The
prime example of this is the great
emphasis placed on the 2008 Olympic
games in China
and the lack of basic economic facts about China’s budgetary expenses and projected financial outlays which are not available for
public scrutiny. And thus also economic fundamentals; how much is being spent on “show piece” non productive displays like the 2008 Olymlpics, or was
spent on being only the third
country—after the United States and Russia—to put a man in space, and is even now being spent on the almost imminent moon landing at a cost of
many more undisclosed billions of
dollars. China, too, has increased its military spending to continue its long term harassment of Taiwan as a whipping boy scapegoat
threat. This external almost
hobgoblin fear being used to divert attention—most foreign analysts
fear--from the lack of
spending for much needed social and educational payments to its very needy large mass of poor rural people who are the bulk of its still very large underclass
of country side peasants.
Evidently, up until now, with China’s ruling oligarchy, unelected and with
a not too veiled or subtle iron fist of
selective repression, a la Tiananim Square, has chosen
the route of economic expansion as its panacea to China’s burgeoning growth problems. It has embraced one central tenet of
Western philosophy ---a private enterprise, individual for profit capitalism, but under a tight rein of absolute political control. Trying to harness the innate human thrust for self benefit financially with the
other more devious goals of an
autocratic government, an
enigma to most of us, much as the Russian government
prior to Winston Chuchill’s
time over a hundred years ago.
One that espouses now a
socialist façade but has created a vibrant middle class of entrepreneurs because of the the free rein on economic growth---mainly in the coastal areas where existing transportation
infrastructure already existed. Approximately half the
population---700 million in the
agricultural interior boon docks have been ignored in this very selective economic leap forward
into modernity and the “squandering” of money on
these show facades of progress while it is estimated that 40% of China’s villages have no running
water. Also drastically inadequate in
rural China
are medical services, and so are the
school facilities.
In its almost frantic haste to vault into the flesh pots of economic
largesse China has overleaped every
country except the
United States and Japan in gross domestic product
and has become the prime exporting
nation
in the world. And
sometimes, as current headlines have been
warning, its now the world’s prime polluter, with many untoward toxic
effects, as lead painted toys, medical drugs of very
questionable purity, and pilfered or non
existent copyright authority for its large media
production of compact discs and other related software. Above all its’ leap high into the economic stratosphere
has featured almost rampant pollution
and a good part of its vast urban
landscape is shrouded in smog and
smoke. Indeed, Beijing,
the capital and site of the 2008 Olympics
has had a great, although mostly
under wraps face lifting. Many large
chemical industry factories, a prime Beijing industry and prime pollutant in the region, have been uprooted as have the hordes of city
dwellers working there. Factories have
been relocated to the outer fringes of
the area and the smog thus made less
evident, but many jobs and workers also
hurriedly and with great hardship moved to make for
a pretty tourist but certainly inauthentic
picture.
A more
authentic presentation of China’s perhaps overwhelming
pollution problem was reported in the New York Times front page story on
October 14th. “Lake Tai, the center of China’s ancient
‘land of fish and rice’ succumbed this
year to floods of industrial and agricultural waste……Toxic
cyanobacteria, commonly referred to as pond scum, turned the big lake fluorescent green. The stench of
decay choked anyone who came within a mile of its shores.
A least two million people who
live amid the canals, rice paddies and chemical plants around the lake had to
stop to stop drinking or cooking with
their main source of water.”
The
newer, post Mao, less harsh regime now
in place in Beijing
is aware of the negative international press, despite official censorship that has tried to hide the pollution and authoritarian
rule at the core of their regime. To further this “face lifting” they have
started a “smile diplomacy” approach, opening up or enhancing many
embassies in neighboring countries. The “carrot” and not the “big
stick” approach that they had used under Mao, whose most profound
political insight was also a military
one----“justice speaks out from a barrel of a gun”, Mao Tse Tungs’ most famous dictum. Softening
this approach with apprehensive neighbors
is no doubt politic and has
raised China’s image
in the region, and even world wide. While his approach is aimed
overtly at improving foreign relations, the
crucial quinquennial (five yearly) nation
wide secret conclave just concluded this
past October probably has to do with
over 50% of the Chinese who are the peasant underclass, whose lot has not improved materially by the prosperity of the growing urban Chinese middle class. This large rural population , while getting
a trickle down increase in living standards, is
still embarrassingly behind the much more affluent coastal urban centers. And they know this festering fact, for modern telecommunications and radio
are available universally, even to the many disenfranchised distant
peasants in rice paddies far from
central Beijing; there is festering dissatisfaction as a
result in the Chinese hinterlands.
Many of us still recall Nikita Kruschev, and Boris Yeltsin and his their ill fated perestroika.-----an attempt to stave
off with limited reform the total
collapse of the Soviet Empire. There was
large scale discontent when they came to power which the Soviet system almost completely stifled by press
censorship, and a terror network of
imprisonment known as the Gulag Archipelago, and
the world was astonished that each relaxation of oppression only seemed to encourage more demands for more liberty. As mentioned before this every fifth year congress of the ruling Chinese
Communist Party has just concluded, and its 2217 delegates chosen in a very
controlled manner will listen to the
“party line” and approve the will of Hu JIntao, their successful ruler
since the last five year congress. Undoubtedly Mr. Hu will be re elected by acclamation. He plans to retire in 2012 and is looking around for his hand picked
successor. Too much freedom and debate
about this favored individual will not be encouraged nor
about new socioeconomic paths. They
are still gung ho with the Catch 22 oxymoronic path of political repression
domestically and almost laissez faire capitalism economically. And the current just concluded congress will
be another tight wire spellbinder of “how can they keep them down on the farm
after they’ve seen Paree”! More than a
hint of Maoism is still in the
background. While the regnant Mr. Hu has spoken during his current term of encouraging more debate and more frequent elections, none of this
has come about and at times more censorship is randomly imposed. The world is
all tuned in for the answer. Not
for Gay Paree, of course, but how the
economic pie will be more equally
distributed. This time discussions and
the give and take of negotiation and
compromise. And no more Tiannimin Square violence.
The United States attitude, which so far seems to be successful, is the
exact opposite of our seemingly abortive Iraqi policy. Not confrontational but very cooperative. Even though hesitant about the ultimate thrust of the structure of communist authoritarian control, we
are very happy about the economic
freedom manifest in their espousal of the capitalist
system. They have become
our largest trading partner and also have become the second largest holder of
our debt, just about ten billion dollars
less than Japan.
While they also have the fastest
growing economy in the world
( as well as being the world’s prime polluter) they are still well below our total Gross
Domestic Product . So far this symbiosis
on the domestic Chinese front
seems to be beneficial on the larger
Pacific Rim area, too, where
the United States has many important
trading concerns, and has ruled the roost insofar in economic trading The recently concluded treaty with the ever recalcitrant North Korea to abandon the use of nuclear fission
may be a landmark in mutual
cooperation between China, Japan, North
Korea, South Korea Russia, and the United States. For over 60 years the United States and its very strong naval presence has kept
the vast expanse of the Pacific ocean an
orderly maritime experience for world wide
commerce. Here not confrontation but mutual respect have been the order of the day. But also
we did have the big stick
of our strong navy so that we could
afford to speak softly and our friends and foes would still listen very
respectfully. And that includes the very tender subject of Taiwan, which now
and then flares and then fades as the
United States insists on peaceful negotiation.
While I is true that now China and Japan are increasing parts of their naval arsenal somewhat it is not a current cause of concern. The presence of the superior United States
armada as ultimate arbiter is a
very stabilizing factor, tending to
make a somewhat lower rung on the
prestige ladder quite acceptable for all the Asiatic nations lower
down.
Perhaps the financial, physical and
spiritual resources that made the United States the sole surviving
superpower in the world are
declining and some portion of our dominant position others will justifiably acquire. In the past, especially in the early
1980’s this seemed true, when we were mired in recession and inflation and a body of our citizens were held hostage by Iran
and we had what Jimmy Carter called
our “malaise”. Crime
seemed on the rise and our urban
streets were not clean as in other countries. We were called the “paper tiger” derisively whose time of greatness was over. Obviously
the last thirty years utterly
belied that cynical projection.
And while we must act , as
before, in our self interest, we
must act also with the energy, ambition and greatness that brought us to the fore in our family of nations.
