Posted on 01/16/2005 6:30:16 PM PST by iddygents
China fails the tsunami test Big power ambitions, bit player when the chips are down
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
In fact, the only significant statement from China’s defense ministry in the days following the tsunami was a Dec. 27 announcement that China and Russia would hold major air and naval war games later this year.
News reports of that announcement focused on Russia’s motives – it was speculated that this was Moscow’s way of showing how irritated Russia was that its tampering with Ukraine’s election had been thwarted by Western pressure. Yet the tin ear China showed for the suffering of its neighbors is even more important. At a time when tens of thousands in its neighborhood were at risk of starvation, dehydration and disease, China’s focus was right where it has been for centuries: China.
Like many countries, China committed money to tsunami relief -- $63 million, carefully trumping the $50 million pledged by its diminutive rival, Taiwan. Beijing also sent a number of search and rescue teams to the region and has encouraged private giving. (In contrast, Japan’s $500 million was the top pledge by any country until Wednesday, when Australia's $764 and Germany's $674 leapfrogged it.
To be sure, China's $63 million donation is welcomed, as is any aid from any country. But China is not just any country, particularly not in East and Southeast Asia, where its break-neck economic growth and maturing military might cast a large and long shadow.
Some Americans, and some in the region, may think it just as well that China remains a one-dimensional player on the world scene, a kind of gigantic idiot savant with a monster economy but no desire to engage in any foreign affairs issue that won’t be a direct benefit to it. That is an understandable sentiment, given the potential for China to be a disruptive, authoritarian force in world.
Well since the world rushes in to clean up China's back yard, why should it bother to lift a finger... Its getting the problem taken care of at no expense to it....
Of course the article beats around the bush of simple reality: Authoritarian communist scumbags care nothing about humanity, international law, or anything else except how much they can get away with. China will care less that it failed the nonexistent "tsunami test."
How many millions of his own people did Mao "eliminate" ?
As badly as I feel for all the innocents who have suffered by the tsunami and lost their homes and loved ones, I doubt that the U.S. will get much credit for its generosity. That's not how the world works. If we do it, we do it for the sake of doing it, not for some imagined payback.
People in Asia may not love China, but China doesn't want to be loved. They want to be feared and respected. And they will be.
Let's see some debt relief to compensate for our carrier presence.
I would also like to see us cease trading with Red China. I am not sanguine about its negative effect on them (although it would be great if it did slam their economy, I suspect that Chinese trade with the Europe Union would only increase -- we're not China's largest trading partner, the EU is), but I believe that it is wrong for us to in any way support such a vile totalitarian regime. We don't allow trade with Cuba, we didn't allow trade with North Korea, and we certainly didn't feed Soviet communism like we now do the Chinese.
It was be interesting -- though I doubt surprising, or reported -- to see which one actually comes through with the money.
25,000,000 (25m) is the conservative estimate. The actually figure will never be known.
China is treading real, real cautiously in Indonesia as both are claimimg the SPRATELYS
the Indonesians are really sensitive about Chinese naval warships hanging around
The Sri Lankans and India also do not ish to embrace Chinese arm forces personnels
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