Challenges Facing China (and the US)

The continuing jolting news coverage in the US media of the human toll and the seemingly uniqueness destruction of the earthquake in China which has created lakes, as well as exposed shoddy construction, and showcased the government response (informed by Katrina?) and the perspective of our newest blogger from China, The Tao, has caused me to think. Well it’s about time some many say.

I thought about the phrase “the only superpower”, which has always made me cringe for a lot of reasons. It refers, of course to the US as the world’s lone remaining superpower, after the fall of the Sovier Union, before the now obvious economic (and military, and techonoligical and space?) rise of China begun 30 years ago with a capitulation to capitalism., indeed the rise of all of extended Asia including Russia and the Middle East.

How fleeting that fact (only superpower) might be viewed to have been in the eyes of history, however flawed as always, which importantly is not that of any of us alive today. Yes, we probably had/have more nuclear weapons than any other power, more oil/energy consumption, more of this and more of that. But we, in my opinion, unlike world oil, have peaked. I like to think that does not mean we have to fall in any important real terms, whatever that is, but that the rest of the world is rising.

Because if that is true, I think the US can take some credit for the rise of the rest of the world. Despite our many flaws including the current seemingly ham handed results of some of Bush’s policies, 1) we have resisted the massive true and continuing colonization of the world that other powers and governments have (and would have tried to exploit, differently than we tried), 2) we have encouraged the move to capitalism, which encourages other countries directly and indirectly, to compete with private companies in the US and throughout the world, and 3) we have encouraged democratization in some manner, not just in our image.

The challenges of China are significant, as it moves from 5000 years of poor government in my opinion, to one where human rights and human opportunity are taking center stage. I note from the writing of The Tao, that there is support for China’s continuing suppression and control of the media.

The thinking is that if there were US style freedom of the press inside of China as well (it still exists in the US despite charges to the contrary), more than one revolution would break out in that vast and historically diverse country. So much would come to light, accurate and inaccurate, that even millennium old conflicts will be exposed and given the harsh light of day that the US government and it’s candidates for office are exposed to everyday. That would make it impossible for the government to govern. The government is nominally Communist, but in reality is is simply an entrenched authoritarian regime trying to hold on to power while it gives power to the people through capitalism without democracy, so that human rights and human opportunity, can increase the quality of life that all previous government failed to achieve.

I applaud the cold eyed pragmatism this leadership in China embarked upon decades ago, for the benefit of billions of people alive now and in the future, as well as for themselves in their leadership positions. That pragmatism continues today in it’s national interest. Some think national interest is inextricably tied to the charge of fascism, but I do not, although extreme nationalism if it emerges, could deserve even worse and more precise labels.

China is not politically correct in US terms. It would shock most American sensibilities of human rights (think one child policy). For the world’s benefit, their most important challenge is to release power gradually enough so as not to move into the next revolution, in the style embodied in Marxism and Mao, which called for continuous revolution, even violent, approving of the killing of innocents (similar to but importantly different to “collateral damage”) in the wrongful belief that each revolution would result in a better government. Absolutely wrong because it just transfers power into the hands of a different corrupt group, think Castro and yes, the beloved Che, Hugo Chavez and many others. No it does not include the hapless Bush.

The challenge to the US is to continue to support China’s rise (and the rest of the world) while finding way to be appropriately nationalistic, looking our for our legitimate national interests without entering into disastrous conflicts, economic, political or militarily. It is important for the extreme political divide in the US to get healed, because given all the givens, the US is in danger of serving up our national interest to a now more powerful “rest of the world”.

Who thinks we cannot go from superpower protected status to extreme vulnerability to modern day versions of colonialism, extreme nationalism, real fascism, through terrorism or outright warfare from aggressive state powers, and continuing non state terrorism, in your kids lifetime. 9/11 could look tame compared to a worse case scenario. We need to relearn how to act in the world, in this really new world order (not the kind trumpeted by conspiratorialists).

Where will the leadership come from to create a good outcome for the world, including the US?