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Wednesday, March 29, 2006
News of the Day
The Communists bamboozle two more U.S. Senators:
Schumer and Graham postpone currency-corrective vote another six months: Amazing what one week with the cadres can do. Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsay Graham have decided to postpone a vote on their bill to impose a tariff against Communist imports until late September (Fox News). The move came after they Senators met with regime officials in Beijing; Schumer went so far as to say the meetings had him "feeling very good." Thus any effort to correct the Communists' deliberately undervalued currency goes by the wayside. Also reporting: United Press International via Washington Times
Normally, any protectionist trade talk turns my stomach. Unfortunately, we're facing the largest benefactor of terrorism on the planet, so economics should (but sadly won't) be trumped by security.
Posted by D.J. McGuire on March 29, 2006 in International Affairs | Permalink
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Comments
The proper decision has been made. You have no right to deny millions of individual people the chance to buy products that they wish to buy, just to further your crusade.
The best way for China to change is through more contact with the west (especially through trade), not less contact.
But I guess you've already decided that war is the only way things can change.
Posted by: Good Work | 2006-03-29 11:05:04 AM
A shooting war? Hardly. But the regime is already fighting a cold war against the democratic world, and we must respond, or be subdued.
Posted by: China e-Lobby | 2006-03-29 11:56:28 AM
This a trade issue, not a cold-war issue.
Currency manipulation is equivelent to a trade barrier or subsidy. It must be treated as such. That it is China that is guilty and not a democracy is secondary.
Posted by: Warwick | 2006-03-29 11:58:51 AM
The CCP is an unscrupulous party that indulges itself on spreading anti-American terrorist crap far and wide. For decades it has been a loyal helper in supporting most communist regimes around the world by supplying them with weapons and what not. This is common knowledge.
It is obvious that what the CCP is after is world domination through economy (and other things). Is Communist China interested in improving -- nope!
The CCP is the CCP and they don't play by the rules. As the saying goes...a leopard doesn't lose his spots. It's all interconnected.
Posted by: lookatthebigpicture | 2006-03-29 2:16:41 PM
Warwick, the issue at hand is that the Communist regime is an enemy of the free world, not merely an undemocratic bystander.
Posted by: China e-Lobby | 2006-03-29 2:17:10 PM
The irony of this blog post is the plea for greater security through protectionism. The fact is that the less we trade, the less secure we are. The more we trade, the less likely other powers are to interfere in lucrative trade arrangements.
Want security? Let's build ties with a China that is becoming increasingly free.
Posted by: Delicious Irony | 2006-03-29 2:17:18 PM
". . . a China that is becomine increasngly free."
That was a joke, right?
Posted by: China e-Lobby | 2006-03-29 2:46:53 PM
It's no joke, just the factual result of a basic comparison of China 20 years ago to China today. Learn some comparative politics.
The trends are encouraging, and I have little doubt that one day the Chinese people themselves will overthrow their rulers.
Unless of course some brilliant conservatives convince us to go to war with a dying regime.
Posted by: Be patient | 2006-03-29 2:55:00 PM
Be patient:
You're very optimistic. I think the rich are happier than 20 years ago but as for the balance, it's a different story.
Here are a few examples:
-There is a great state of unrest with over 84,000 riots a year--the paramilitary troops are sent out by the CCP to open fire on peasants who've lost the last bit of their agricultural land to development projects or Olympic sites. (Shanwei, Hanyuan, Sanjio, Taishi). There are about 900 million peasants in rural China
-human rights lawyers are thrown in jail and threatened(Gao Zhisheng et al)for defending Christians and peasants; internet users, bloggers and journalists are imprisoned; not to mention the inhumane persecution of the Falun Gong with an estimated 10,000 dead by torture
-the present regime supports the rich not the poor. The elite brags about the good life in China. The party (CCP) has made sure to deliver this glossy package overseas to attract foreign investors.
-the growing unchecked pollution factor has caused serious groundwater problems with 7 major rivers seriously affected; toxic chemical spills are frequent; this is a side effect from the economic boom
Itlooks like China's present economy is highly imbalanced and Beijing is doing very little to help the situation and its people.
I agree that eventually the people will liberate themselves from the grip of the dictators (CCP) as the current Freedom Movement has seen 9 million Chinese people quit the CCP so far.
Posted by: makina | 2006-03-29 5:44:02 PM
The real issue here is the behaviour of these two senators.
Dispicable.
As for anyone who thinks China Trade and China Security are separate issues...give your head a shake! China is very consciously positioning themselve as a key player in the economic world ..without giving an inch on their absolutely rigid and anti-democratic domestic or foreign policies.
Posted by: PGP | 2006-03-29 6:19:13 PM
If China wants to become a key player in the economic world (i.e. providing the goods and services that people demand) we will all be richer for the trade, not just China. It's sad to see conservatives railing against wealth creation.
The economic liberalization that came before China's economic growth has introduced the Chinese people to the concepts of greater independence and choice in daily life. It's only a matter of time before they demand that same choice in the political realm.
P.S. See my earlier post about the connection between trade and security.
Posted by: More Irony | 2006-03-30 12:08:27 PM
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