2010-02-15

Socionomics Alert! Rethinking China

Robert Samuelson says We've Misjudged China:
Most American-Chinese disputes reflect China's unwillingness to endanger domestic goals for international ends. It won't commit to binding greenhouse gas cuts because these could reduce economic growth and (again) jobs. On Iran, it values its oil investments more than it fears Iranian nukes. Likewise, it worries that unrest in North Korea could send refugees spilling across the border. Because Taiwan is regarded as part of China, U.S. arms sales there become domestic interference. And censorship is needed to maintain one-party control.
For international ends...or American ends?
It would be a tragedy if these two superpowers began regarding each other as adversaries. But that's the drift. Heirs to a 2,000-year cultural tradition -- and citizens of the world's largest country -- the Chinese have an innate sense of superiority, Jacques writes. Americans, too, have a sense of superiority, thinking that our values -- the belief in freedom, individualism and democracy -- reflect universal aspirations.

Greater conflicts and a collision of national egos seem inevitable. No longer should we sit passively while China's trade and currency policies jeopardize jobs here and elsewhere. Political differences between the countries are increasingly hard to ignore. But given China's growing power -- and the world economy's fragile state -- a showdown may do no one any good. Miscalculation is leading us down dark alleys.
Which country is trying to impose its value system on the world?

Social mood is declining and instead of viewing a rising China as a positive change, it is now viewed as a negative change. China is becoming the focal point of American problems and the implications are not positive.

1 comment:

  1. Oh check it! http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/chinese-school-denies-attack-on-google-20100221-omyn.html
    Here's a quote: He defended Google's decision to launch a filtered google.cn search engine in China in 2006, saying the company's presence in that market "made a big difference but things started going downhill after the [2008] Olympics" there.

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