“There are two distinct ways of looking at China; one
from an ideological perspective and the other to observe China’s modernization
as it adopts successful Western economic mechanisms and adds some of its own
pragmatic solutions to its need for growth and stability. One must avoid Cold
War interpretations, since the road that China has taken has different and
positive goals. China has the advantage of five thousand years of history and
culture giving it a sense of stability on which to build its national economy.
“During the 19th and 20th
century, foreign control and influence is remembered as a destructive force. It
culminated in a civil war and the establishment of a Marxist-lead government in
1949 under the leadership of Mao, whose disastrous “Great Leap Forward”
economic plan and ideological Cultural Revolution brought it down. This led to
a second revolution in 1978, led by Chou En Lai and Deng Xiaoping for economic
modernization and integrating with the West, which promulgated new
interpretation of Marxism, combined with a pragmatic attitude and based on
deeply ingrained nationalism.
“The pace of economic development has been at a
phenomenal 8-9% annual growth without let up, despite the upheaval at
Tiananmin.
“The phenomenal economic development has been uneven
for China as a whole in developing means of production, jobs and the second
widest income gap in the world after the United States. The interplay of
private interests with public interests has expressed itself in corruption. The
interplay of group interests (classes) is typical of this stage of attempting
to build a new kind of society – an impossibility without the introduction of
entrepreneurism and private property.
“The years 2002 and 2003 were a watershed. The threat
of an economic recession that would not only affect China, but major Western
countries like the USA, forced the government to exercise control and
regulation over the flow of capital in the economy, quite distinct from the New
Deal type government intervention which could not regulate or direct capital
investment in a totally private economy. China experienced unfortunate neglect
of the interests of workers and peasants during this phase of its modernization,
especially throughout the 1990s, now reflected in a changed governmental
attitude under the new top leaders Hu and Wen who are emphasizing Maoist
collectivism and equality.
“Stability is most important to
China’s foreign policy as the basis for its continued economic growth. It has
developed into the workshop of the world, taking leading positions in trade and
exchange to become the primary destination for capital investment. It’s trade
relations with the West of the highest magnitude favoring the balance of trade
to China, at the same time it is contracting with “Southern” developing
countries on a basis of fairness for both sides to exchange commodities and
capital investments with an opportunity for growth in both directions (E.I.,
South America, Africa, etc.).
“We
look to 2008 as another turning point. Television sets around the world will
bring a view of China’s capabilities in the magnificence of the setting they
are creating for the next world Olympics. This will confirm the possibility of
independent economic development outside of the restraints of existing
globalization. Our task in the USA is to keep the Right Wing from pressing the
administration into hostile military moves, witness their mouthpiece Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who's beating the drums in Singapore to create an
atmosphere of belief that China could be a military threat to its neighbors and
The United States. Defeating them is possible because the Bush Family,
Kissinger and many corporations have profited from economic relations with
China.”
June 22, 2005