Get set for a totally new China

The Straits Times (Singapore) ^ | 2002-08-09 | By KENICHI OHMAE

[SevenDaysInMay]

Bump. Within one generation, China will have more college graduates than North America has people. Only their version of fascism will limit their ability.

The USA faces its own regulated socialism.

[Selara]

What is the Muslim view of China? Has anyone hear EVER heard a single Muslim leader criticize China?

Surely an atheistic state would be high on the top of their hate lists..but no, their hate lists contain other Muslims, Christians, Jews and western politicians.

I am really asking here...not leading to a conclusion. It has been gnawing at my mind....why is Islam so silent on China...and why is China so silent on Islam?

Foil hats not needed, thank you.

[blueriver]

The whole issue of China as a threat is something Americans should grow out of. China is here to stay regardless of what anyone thinks. In a few decades, most of the Fortune 500 will actually be getting most of their revenues from China rather than America itself. At that time, it's nonsensical for them to be fighting any war with each other.

So in your opinion we should not view China as a threat because it is destined to become as powerful, if not more powerful than America and of course from your statements I gather that you believe we will all be one big happy family on earth when this happens. I am convinced that it is this type of naive thinking that will enable China to succeed in crushing America.

[AIG]

Why would China want to crush America? America's corporations are helping China get rich.

[AIG]

China is just getting rich because, duh, it discovered capitalism is a good thing. It's America's capitalists are even more fervent about China's becoming capitalist than today's capitalist-crazed Chinese themselves. If China were in the middle of Africa and its economy weren't growing, China wouldn't even be on anyone's radar screen.

[AIG]

China would become rich and powerful and have a big military eventually even if it were a republic. As a matter of fact, I think it's perfectly possible that after China develops a majority-middle class population under one-party rule over the next few decades, China may adopt representative democracy. China is just following a one-party path of development now because this path has proven itself to work in Japan, Korea, Singapore, etc. over the past 50 years, which all had one-party governments. On other other hand, today's Third World republics are dysfunctional jokes. China's achieved more in the past 20 years than democratic India has achieved in the past 50. Same goes for the Latin American democracies, which are the big headline messes of today, if anyone's been paying attention. Democratic Brazil just got the biggest IMF bailout in history. A few months ago, democratic Turkey needed an IMF bailout. The spread of representative democracies to Third World countries has just meant China receives the bulk of foreign investment, as foreign investors get scared off by the chronic legislative gridlock, lack of economic reforms, and general malaise in Third World republics.

[rightofrush]

My biggest beef in our dealings with China is that the same thinking seems dominant in among all the policy wonks. Every one of them seems to be taking the same overly optimistic view of China. I suspect it has to do with some fairly heady ideas that they get filled with in the CFR.

You're the optimist. This couldn't all be done on purpose, could it?

[AIG]

The reason China is on anyone's radar to begin with and particularly America's elite is because we live in an age of economic globalization, capitalism clearly dominates in the post-Cold War world, and China is the next and most promising area for capitalists to expand their businesses and help their shareholders (including many average Americans) get rich. The First World's own domestic markets are already saturated, today's Third World republics are economic basketcases plagued by majority-poor populations and majority-socialist politicians and lack of economic reforms, so that leaves China, which is using its authoritarian power to push through economic reforms more expeditiously than anywhere else in the developing world.

[AIG]

It's only your paranoid mind which believes that China's rise necessarily means America's fall. Far from it. Just because Coke or Boeing is gonna sell more drinks and planes in China doesn't mean somehow that China is then going to invade America. You live in a fantasy world, but I think you prefer to live there.

Incidentally, even Harry Wu has said that there's only 8 mil. people in China's prisons at any given time. 8 mil. in a population of 1.3 bil. is miniscule. China certainly has cheap labor, but cheap labor isn't necessarily "slave labor." This is another example of your uncontrolled paranoia.

[AIG]

Given all the anti-China rhetoric coming out of America over the past 6 years or so, I don't blame China for feeling wary of America's intentions.

[AIG]

Since when did adopting capitalism and wanting to rise out of Third World living conditions become crimes in Americans' eyes? America would prefer that China stick to a communist economic system? As for Third World democracy, who wants to become the next Russia, India, or Brazil?

[AIG]

You think you know more about China's prisons than Harry Wu? Again, you're just loony.

[AIG]

Here is something for you to consider. China is such a big "threat" to Taiwan that Taiwan announced it's going to open its real estate market to mainland investors. In addition, Taiwan is going to allow its chip companies to start investing in the mainland! Wow, the Taiwanese sure feel threatened!

[AIG]

Taiwan to approve chip investments in China on Monday

Taiwan To Open Its Real-Estate Market to Mainland China Investors Effective Tomorrow

[primeval patriot]

How is it possible that you claim to be from mainland China yet you are posting on a reactionary anti-communist website like Free Republic? Aren't you the least bit apprehensive that the authorities are going to arrest you? Or are you safe as long as you profess the virtues of authoritarian rule and reunification with Taiwan?

[AIG]

How is it that Taiwan, which supposedly has the most to fear from the mainland, is opening up its real estate market to mainland investors and invested $40 bil. in the mainland over the past 2 years?

[AIG]

Taiwan's growing economic dependence on the mainland is a de facto kind of thing. Every Taiwanese himself or herself would admit that, and this is nothing really new.

[AIG]

Capitalism obeys its own logic. It's just a matter of recognizing and acknowledging the capitalist trends.