China!

The ambivalence of U.S. policy towards China may				born in a city - and registered as a city dweller - it
be perhaps best characterized by the incident of				is easier for you to get into university. You are in
the spy airplane back in 2001. While gathering				the city, you can work at all the large companies
intelligence off the coast of China, a U.S. Navy				and government agencies in the city. If,
EP-3 electronic spy plane, piloted by Lt. Osborn				conversely, you are registered as a rural person
collides in mid-air with a Chinese F-8 and is forced				there are very severe restrictions on where you
to make an emergency landing at Hainan Island.				can live and work. And this is actually the biggest
The Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, is killed in the				human rights problem in China today. You have a
incident. China charges that the U.S. plane illegally				majority of this population of 1.3 billion that are, by
entered Chinese airspace, and detains the 24 U.S.				law, second class citizens. Furthermore, there are
crew members for 11 days. It demands that the				the other matters of the more than 20 million
U.S. take full responsibility for the incident and				people who have no social security net
issue a full apology. In the end, the United States				whatsoever to assist taking care of their basic
offers a letter in which it says it is "very sorry"				needs, as well as the environmental concerns that
for the loss of the Chinese pilot and "very sorry"				the new era of industrialization is bringing up. Of
that the aircraft landed in China without				the ten worst polluted cities in the whole world
permission. The damaged U.S. airplane is not				according to the World Environmental Agency,
returned for three months. Together with the				eight are in China. And, finally, the PRC accounts
letter of apologies, however, China also gets a				for 23 percent of the global population while
U.S. aircraft carrier battlegroup of the Seventh				supply of fresh water is less than 6 percent.Yet,
Fleet permanently stationed off the coast of				the social and economic improvements are huge
Taiwan.On the other hand, Chinese ambivalence				as anyone who saw China in the '70's will confirm.
towards the United States can be perhaps best				Three decades ago there were no automobiles,
described by the statement of a Chinese official				no super markets, no highrise buildings. And there
to a visiting American delegation to Shanghai in				were no consumer goods to speak of. It was a
2001: "I surely hope that you and the American				Stalinist society, and a very poor Stalinist society
economy do well in this global slowdown, because				at that. So the economic system has totally
your economic interests and your economic				changed, and the private sector is now the
development are critical to the welfare of the				dominant sector of the economy. It didn't exist at
people in Shanghai and China.". This remarks				all as late as 1979. The political system has
comes at a time while China is intent at stealing				changed as well, albeit not nearly as drastically as
U.S. military secrets from Martin Lockheed - and it				the economic system. The China of the
is caught with both hands in the bag doing so.And				twenty-first century is a one-party state without
then, of course, American and Chinese joint				a firm ideological foundation, more similar to
ambivalence towards the rest of the world must				Mexico under the PRI than Russia under Stalin. It
be perhaps encapsulated in the philantropic				is certainly difficult today to call China a
website maintained at where both sides are trying				Communist State, and the regime is no longer the
to convince the rest of us in English - and for				party of workers and peasants. Mao Zedong
those who do not get it the first time around, in				would be unpleasantly surprised at how things got
Chinese - that seldom have there been in the				out of hand. But then, even this political
history of humanity two great pals like the Bald				transformation is nothing new to the Chinese. In
Eagle and the Red Dragon. Well ... well ...China's				fact, historically China has often gone through
giant leap towards a Western-style, capitalistic				periods of consolidation followed by periods of
economy presents an increasingly urgent set of				weakening of the central authority. And the
challenges that must be resolved by the leading				inequality of wealth is just a consequence of it
elite if they hope to sustain the miraculous				all.No issue is more pivotal and controversial in the
economic growth, which has averaged eight				U.S.-China relations than the question of Taiwan.
percent a year for the past decade. When you				On October 1, 1949 after nearly two decades of
consider that the People's Republic of China (PRC)				civil war, Chinese Communist Party leader Mao
has 1.3 billion people, more than four times the				Zedong declared victory over the U.S.-supported
population of the United States, the implications of				Nationalists (Kuomintang or KMT) led by Chiang
its radical economic transformation are sobering.				Kai-shek. Mao proclaimed the establishment of the
In 2004 the Chinese added 1.8 million cars to their				People's Republic of China (PRC) and instituted a
roads, bringing the national total to well over 10				new communist system modeled after the
million. At recent growth rates, the number could				U.S.S.R. After his defeat Chiang Kai-shek fled to
very well double every three to four years.				the Chinese island of Taiwan, then called Formosa,
Should car ownership ever match that in the				along with two million Nationalist refugees. Taiwan
United States (135 million vehicles in 2002), there				is located about 100 miles off China's coast. There
would be about 600 million cars on China's roads -				he established a "provisional" Nationalist capital in
more than all the cars in the world today. A				Taipei and declared martial law. The Nationalists
statistical comparison between the two giants				claimed to be the sole legitimate government of
compiled by the World Resource Institute of the				all of China, and set up the same political bodies
United Nations reveals even more staggering				on Taiwan which had ruled on the mainland. Under
figures:CHINA vs. UNITED STATESAREA:				Chiang's authoritarian leadership, the Nationalist
3,705,820 square miles vs. 3,717,796 square				government established a successful land reform
milesPOPULATION: 1,288,700,000 vs.				program during the 1950's which helped transform
291,500,000DENSITY per square mile: 348 vs.				the country from an agricultural to a commercial
78ENERGY CONSUMPTION per person: 880 Kg/oil				and industrial economic powerhouse.It is difficult
per year vs. 7,960 Kg/oil per yearMEAT				for Westerners to understand why the PRC is so
CONSUMPTION per person: 104 lbs. per year vs.				adamant about reunification with Taiwan, until an
269 lbs. per yearPAPER CONSUMPTION per				example is brought up by the Chinese. "Think of
person: 73 lbs. per year vs. 730 lbs. per				California as an island off America's West Coast
yearAVERAGE NUMBER OF PERSON : 1.1 per				and inhabited by Americans but under a different
room vs. 0.5 per roomWATER USE per person :				regime. Wouldn't Washington want to seek
116,000 gals. per year vs. 484,500 gals. per				reunification ?" The analogy made by Yang Jiechi,
yearTV SETS per 1,000 persons: 292 vs.				Chinese Ambassador to the United States, makes
844VEHICLES per 1000 persons: 16 vs. 774Since				perfect sense. Taiwan is the PRC's unfinished civil
its onset in 1949 the People's Republic has gone				war. They fought a civil war with this Nationalist
through a lot, including a famine where 20 million				government. They essentially won. The
to 30 million people died in the early 1960s; a				Nationalists escaped out to an island which the
cultural revolution that went on into a decade; and				Chinese consider an integral part of China. And
a skyrocketing national suicide rate as well. Yet,				then, because of American support and other
never in the history of the world have so many				intervening factors, they never finished their civil
people been lifted from poverty so rapidly.				war. In terms of the military, the PRC is also
President Clinton, in one of his last speeches, said				developing very rapidly. It is acquiring a modern
that 200 million people in China were lifted from				aircraft and modern battleships. Its naval force
absolute poverty from 1978 to about 1999.				and air force are developing so fast that China is
That's equivalent to about two-thirds of the entire				now at the forefront of Asia's military innovations.
population of the United States in twenty years.				Ambivalence exists both in the political relations of
The economic achievements, therefore, are huge.				China and the U.S. with Taiwan as well as
But so are the problems. The factors of				between China and the U.S. over Taiwan. China
economic instability are many and worry the				pursues a policy of "One Country - Two
leadership. In fact, the leading elite justifies some				Systems" , a policy that is working well with Hong
of the repressive political measures precisely				Kong and Macau after their return to the PRC.
because of what they call "the factors of				The United States pursues a strategy aptly called
instability." These factors include a financial and				"Strategic Ambiguity": it recognizes Bejing as the
banking system that is basically bankrupt, with				only legitimate government while at all times
bad loans out greater than the real net reserves				investing in and supplying weaponry to Taiwan.
of the entire banking system.There are perhaps				And Taiwan's strategy is to court the United
between 80 million to 100-plus million people that				States while increasing its trade with the PRC,
are moving from the countryside on a kind of				now amounting to over US $40 billion per year.It
temporary contract labor into the Chinese cities.				is in this complex context of political and economic
And yet a large number of urban unemployed are				balances and counter-balances that the Eagle and
getting put out of business from non-competitive				the Dragon are eyeballing each others. A context
state enterprises. As a result China has got urban				certainly not for the faint of heart. And yet, in the
unemployed, rural unemployed coming into the				geopolitical situation of Asia the United States and
cities, unsound financial system, and general				China make a very good team. Both are disdainful
resentment against a regime that has, in the past,				of absolutist chieftains the likes of North Korea's
grotesquely mismanaged things. And then, of				Kim Il Sung, both want peace and relaxation in the
course, there is the widespread problem of				region, both are fervent in their plight against
corruption that permeates every facet of				terrorism and both are eager to improve trade
society.Indeed, corruption is not a Chinese				and cultural exchange with each others. The
characteristic per se. It has, however, developed				Chinese - founders of civilization are now meeting
in a world where old, antiquated and inefficient				and talking to the Americans - spearheads of
laws are not being replaced fast enough to keep				contemporary society. Two great countries, two
up with the speed of present times, and the				great people.Will the Eagle and the Dragon find a
vacuum has to be somehow filled. Experts think				common ground for peaceful co-existence and
that on one hand the economic opening will bring				mutual understanding?Stay tuned.Luigi FrascatiLuigi
more outside influences and in a way more chaos				Frascati is a Real Estate Agent based in
to the country which is not a bad thing in some				Vancouver, British Columbia. He holds a Bachelor
ways. But, conversely, experts agree that the				Degree in Economics and maintains a weblog
leadership will try to keep a tight control so that,				entitled the Real Estate Chronicle at where you
at the end of the day, there may actually very				can find the full collection of his articles. Luigi is
well be more human rights violations than ever				associated with the Sutton Group, the largest real
before.There is also an imbalance of wealth				estate organization in Canada, and is based with
between the thirty-five percent of the population				Sutton-Centre Realty in Burnaby, BC.Luigi is very
that lives in the cities and the sixty-five percent				proud to be an EzineArticles Platinum Expert
inhabiting the countryside. There is a system of				Author. Your rating at the footer of this Article is
residence controls. If you are lucky enough to be				very much appreciated. Thank you.

Asia Travex

China!