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To: dr_who_2; Tailgunner Joe; nmh; DannyTN
To emphasize the point about intellectual sincerity, I want to reiterate and quote Arthur Waldron's above summary points which do so better than my own. Are there any points which any reasonable analyst can honestly disagree?:

"China has reaped the benefits of American policies. Her government is rich and many Americans and other westerners now have so much money invested in China that they are reluctant to do anything other than support the regime. Yet it is becoming clear that the Communists have no intention of giving up power, allowing free speech, elections, freedom of religion, or other serious change.

It is also becoming clear that economically China is mercantilist in her behavior, not a true free trader. And finally, she is using the money and access to foreign technology obtained in these decades to engage in a major military build-up.

This is the phase in which we find ourselves now. I think we can call it dawning disappointment and concern. Without intending to, we have helped create a formidable geopolitical competitor, that threatens our friends and allies in Asia militarily, and whose economic behavior is undermining our interests. That competitor now feels strong enough not to pay much attention to what we say, one way or the other. Beijing feels it can make its own way.

I believe our interest is above all in having a China whose government is legitimately constituted, elected by its people, and that honors the rights of its people. This is the fundamental consideration."

This is precisely what we conservative anti-communists always warned of. Our policies merely strengthened them in all ways that threatened us, and undercut our own ability to resist their oppressions and threatening capabilities. I am not here merely to say "I told you so." or crow over how everyone was misled by the Panda-Huggers...but we conservatives weren't.

As Ronald Reagan always was proud to display on his desk a placard which said:

There is no end to what you can accomplish if (or when) you don't care who gets the credit.

I am begging for people to wake up...not give up or give in to what the Appeasers will say is now unstoppable or simply too inconvenient to oppose... We need to change course. We need to do the Right Things. Now.


22 posted on 05/19/2006 9:48:55 AM PDT by Paul Ross (We cannot be for lawful ordinances and for an alien conspiracy at one and the same moment.-Cicero)
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To: Paul Ross
"China has reaped the benefits of American policies. Her government is rich and many Americans and other westerners now have so much money invested in China that they are reluctant to do anything other than support the regime. Yet it is becoming clear that the Communists have no intention of giving up power, allowing free speech, elections, freedom of religion, or other serious change. It is also becomi"China has reaped the benefits of American policies. Her government is rich and many Americans and other westerners now have so much money invested in China that they are reluctant to do anything other than support the regime. Yet it is becoming clear that the Communists have no intention of giving up power, allowing free speech, elections, freedom of religion, or other serious change. It is also becoming clear ithat economically China is mercantilist in her behavior, not a true free trader. And finally, she is using the money and access to foreign technology obtained in these decades to engage in a major military build-up.

China does not have parity with the U.S. militarily. And it doesn't surprise me a bit that you're spending most of your time worrying about China as an economic power (not to mention the griping about some other large countries in the developing world). China is going to do what is in "China's" interests regardless of what we do. We should do the same. The difference is that China is basically centrally controlled by an entrenched undemocratic regime that won't give up much of its power voluntarily (this is news to you?) and the U.S. is most certainly not (last time I checked anyway). The fact of the matter is that China is not going away regardless of what we do, just like Mexico. You can fanticize all you want about how some indespensable CIA operatives, protectionist economists, and weapons systems could "contain" China and keep it a backwards hellhole full of illiterate rice farmers or get all hysterical about how Iowans are soon going to be speaking Chinese or lick your chops over the prospect of a short, glorious war with a nation of a billion people, but I have less and less patience for that. Mercantilism is dumb policy on the part of the U.S, because the country's real problems are increasingly domestic (our shitty education system, our out of control entitlements and debt, creeping government, the public's inability to embrace change). U.S. policy towards China is incoherent at best and needs to be changed drastically in places, but we should be careful to pick our battles. Even Sun Tzu would agree on that point.

We need to do the Right Things. Now.

I wholeheartedly agree. I just don't think you have any clue about what the Right Things are.
23 posted on 05/21/2006 6:16:00 PM PDT by dr_who_2
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