On Monday, May 30, 2022 at 9:14:10 PM UTC, ltlee1 wrote:
On Monday, May 30, 2022 at 1:21:31 PM UTC-4, stoney wrote:
On Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 10:15:26 AM UTC+8, gera...@gmail.com wrote:
https://www.state.gov/the-administrations-approach-to-the-peoples-republic-of-china/
A long monologue by the US Secretary, Blinken. Mostly a repeat of what has been said or written before, but with a tinge of mildness.
Summary:
After two world wars, there’s a world order. Since then, this has evolved into a US-led world order. The emphasis of the world order differs with the US Administration. The Democrat Biden Administration pushes an ideology based on the “
universal values” of democracy, freedom and human rights. It believes this has allowed the world to make much progress over the past 75 years. It wants to “make sure that it (the world order and its universal values), represents the interests, the
values, the hopes of all nations, big and small, from every region.” That’s the vision of the future that the US has for the world.
But China, according to the US, after having benefited from the world order, has grown mighty enough to pose a serious challenge to such a future. The US will not allow this to happen. It will lead and gather followers to challenge China. But it
will not be that simple. Co-operations with China are needed to solve certain global problems.
“That’s why this is one of the most complex and consequential relationships of any that we have in the world today.”
Then he recites a long list of wrongs that China has committed internally and internationally.
How to counter the China Challenge? Competition, not conflict. A three-prong strategy. Invest in the US to maintain its edge over China. Align and ally with like-minded nations to form a network against China. Then,together with the allies, compete
fiercely with China.
“To the people of China: we’ll compete with confidence; we’ll cooperate wherever we can; we’ll contest where we must. We do not see conflict.
There’s no reason why our great nations cannot coexist peacefully, and share in and contribute to human progress together. That’s what everything I’ve said today boils down to: advancing human progress, leaving to our children a world that’
s more peaceful, more prosperous, and more free.”
From the choice of words, one can detect a lower level of belligerence and aggressiveness compared to previous China Strategy statements.
Challenge instead of threat. Competition instead of conflict. Peaceful coexistence and co-operation
Bear in mind that this statement is made when the US-led West is now militarily involved in the Russia-Ukraine War. Though there’s no boots on the ground now, how deeply the US can get involved in this war will depend on how well it can keep
China out of it and not side with Russia.
It's like the Chinese Classic Romance of Three Kingdoms. The world is in a Romance of Three Superpowers. Before any two superpowers fight, each will have to make sure that the third remains neutral, or better still, side with it.
Blinken's rhetoric again. There are a lot of bullshits in his rhetoric. If US withdraws all matters not belonging to them, those countries that he mentioned will be able to sort their problems out by themselves. It is weird to see how Blinken is
playing his rhetoric with little depths to think they should reverse to where it was and not how it was now now. One can see Blinken did not blink because even he was criticized particularly on human right. China's foreign spoke person Zhao Lijian told
Bliken not to lecture China on human rights but for US to lecture their own human rights instead.
I think the US has learnt the wrong historical lessons from the two world wars and from the cold war with the former USSR.
At present, it sees China as the enemy #1. But because of its weakened power position, human right appears to it as the
most useful weapon. Of course, it fails to look at its own human right condition.
Let me quote Russell Kirk, America's godfather of conservatism again:
"ln international affairs, nevertheless, the United States needs to beware of what Sir Herbert Butterfield calls “righteousness,” a cardinal error in diplomacy—that is, national self-righteousness. The American Republic does not possess virtue
and power sufficient to thrust Americans’ notions of “human rights” upon all the world. Even a massive assertion of American power, a crusade for “human rights,” might destroy more than it could restore. America’s undertaking in Vietnam,
President Lyndon Johnson’s version of human rights, was a salutary lesson in this respect, if in no other. It is not the mission of the United States to establish universally some imitation of the American political and economic order. Every people
must find their own way to order and justice and freedom. As Daniel Boorstin has written, the American Constitution is not for export. He means that our Constitution grew out of the peculiar historical experience of the Americans. So it is with the
underlying constitution of every people. "
WHAT HAVE THE U.S. GOT AGAINST CHINA?
Another Statement on US Policy and Strategy Towards China by yet another US Administration.
Same old ramblings and grumblings about the same old stuff. The US pole position in the world is being threatened by a rising China. China appears to be a better governed country than the US. To convince the world otherwise, the US resorts to the
esoteric realms and nebulous spheres of rules-based international order, democracy, freedom, human rights.
CHINA CHALLENGES THE RULES-BASED INTERNATIONAL ORDER?
The world knows what this rules-based International Order is about. Previous US Administrations have referred to a World or Global Order. Perhaps this one has realised that not the whole world, but only some nations, subscribe to it. The current “Rule-
based International Order” is an evolution of the European colonisation of the world going back to about 500 years ago. It is a West-dominated order. Those non-Western nations which want to fit in would have to follow the rules which are set to
advantage the West.
After the historic visit of US President Richard Nixon, China was slowly introduced into the Rule-based International Order. They didn’t not make it easy for China. The Asian giant was made to struggle and make sacrifices. It struggled for years before
it was accepted into the WTO. For this, it had to subject itself to unfair rules. For example, it had to become the dumping ground for huge amount of wastes from other member nations of the WTO.
This and other experiences make China realises that the so called International Order is a West-dominated one, with the rules made to favor the West. It’s not only China. Many other countries have come to realise this and seek changes to the rules. But
you need might to do this. With its growing might, China becomes more vocal in seeking changes to the rules. It is working to reform the International Order to make it fairer to all. For this, it is being accused of challenging or threatening the
International Order.
THOSE VALUES OF DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS.
US-style democracy has resulted in undesirable characters and personalities being elected as its President. Just look at a few in the recent past. There was a molester and drug abuser who was impeached but managed to retain his Presidency. He was mocked
in the way he defended his behavior as no-penetration-no-inhalation Bill. Then there’s Donald Trump who was impeached twice but also retained his Presidency. Now there’s senile old Joe Biden who is yet to be impeached.
USs’ freedom and human rights have resulted in a dysfunctional society. The crime rate is shockingly high. People are being shot and killed almost daily. Many more escape this fate only to face the risks of being mugged, robbed, raped or killed by
other criminal means. There are not enough prisons to hold all the criminals. Many have to be released after so called “rehab”. There’s still the racial crimes and riots which cause more deaths and destruction. Many Americans are robbed of the most
basic of human rights, the right to live. Most pitiful are those children who are robbed of the chance to grow up. They die too young to even know what the hell it is all about.
The COVID-19 pandemic lays bear the inherent defects of US-style freedom and human rights. Individual freedom and rights triumph over the collective needs to protect the community. Mitigating measures cannot be in place long enough for them to be
effective. This allows the virus to continue to spread, multiply and mutate. As a result, the pandemic cannot be brought under control, let alone eliminated. It continues to erupt in wave after wave. So far, a quarter of Americans are infected, over a
million dead, with the numbers still increasing, with no end in sight.
Whether its democracy, freedom or human rights, China has them all but differently. The Chinese have their own style of democracy. They have their freedom and rights to different degrees and levels.
Chinese values are proving to be better than the Americans’. Chinese society has few of the ills afflicting Americans’. In China, the relationship between the ruler and the ruled is cordial. After some initial hiccups, the country has been in order
and peace for decades now, allowing it to develop and rise to the extent that the US feels threaten by it.
China is a better governed country than the US. This can be seen in the case of the pandemic. Government and people work cooperatively together to combat the pandemic. When the government comes out with stringent mitigating measures, the people put the
interest of the community above that of their own individuals freedom and rights to comply. Of course there are dissents and oppositions but they are far and few, being the exceptions rather than the norm.
Innovations and entrepreneurship, together, has been the trump card that Americans believe they have over the Chinese. Chinese values have not prevented Chinese from being innovative and enterprising. They are making advances in science and technology
with leaps and bounds.
Combining science and technology with entrepreneurship, Chinese have created global-scale hi-tech enterprises which are world renown. There are also cities which run heavily on science and technology.
The US have a head start over China in development. It is still a more advanced country than China at the moment, generally speaking. It is still a magnet which attracts talents from around the world, including China. But the attractive power of China
for world talents increases with the rise of China. Increasing number of American researchers are going over to China to continue their research or initiate new ones. The day when China is a stronger magnet than the US in attracting global talents is not
too far away.
ARE THE CHINESE BEING ASSERTIVE AND AGGRESSIVE?
The Americans should look themselves in the mirror. They bear a superiority complex. They expect people from other parts of the world to look up to them as their Boss, Leader, Savior, may be even God.
They have little or no respects for other people. A good example would be that country bumpkin cowboy Joe Biden who barked at the President of China for the world to watch. Remember the two Congressmen who were the invited guests of China but referred
to China as thief? Americans are by nature rude, crude and crass. That’s putting it mildly.
Americans are used to dealing with Overseas Chinese, esp. those residing in the US. These Chinese, being dependent on the Americans one way or another, have no choice but to be docile and submissive towards the Americans. These only make them easy
targets of American aggressiveness. They become victims of crimes, from petty ones to violent racial attacks. Those in research fields become victims of trumped up charges of spying for China and end up in jail. Make no mistake. The Americans dislike
both China and Chinese. As China continue to rise, dislike is turning into hatred.
The Chinese in China are different. The Americans should have no illusion that they can treat mainland Chinese the way they treat the Chinese in the US or elsewhere outside China. Those in China never forget their defeats and humiliations by the
foreigners. They are the ones who have stayed on to fight off the foreigners to regain their freedom and independence. Several decades after this, they have built up a New China and catapulted it to the top of the world. As a result, they are looking at
themselves and the world differently. They have good reasons to be proud of themselves. They have become more CONFIDENT, not assertive or aggressive. The Americans don’t seem to understand this.
COULD PERSONAL VENGEANCE EXPLAIN THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION CONFRONTATIONAL POLICIES TOWARD CHINA?
Perhaps the world is being placed in danger by a vengeful, senile, old fool. Joe Biden’s confrontational and dangerous policies toward China may be driven by his own personal grudge against China. How does this come about? Well, he had arsed for it.
Joe Biden visited China when Jiang Zheming was President. During an open Press Meeting, that rustic American dog openly barked at the President of China, accusing Jiang of pointing finger at him, literally. He left China feeling very proud of himself.
Joe Biden next visited China when Hu Jintao was President. The Chinese returned the American cowboy his favor. He was ill-treated in a closed meeting with Chinese officials. He looked downcast and depressed in the photoshoot after the meeting. This time
he left China bearing a grudge against the country. His has not forgotten the humiliations from the Chinese. He’s just being vengeful now that he is the POTUS.
IS ALL LOST BETWEEN THE CHINESE AND THE AMERICANS?
If the Americans truly want to get along with the Chinese, they should make the effort to know the Chinese better. Do not approach them in a condescending manner as a teacher or a preacher. Do not think they can use and abuse the Chinese as and when
they wish. All it takes for the two to get along is for the Americans to accept the Chinese as their equal.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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