Monday, May 18, 2009

David Miliband: China Ready To Join US As World Power

The view from the gallery of the Shanghai World Financial tower, a symbol of China's growing economic influence. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

From The Guardian:

David Miliband today described China as the 21st century's "indispensable power" with a decisive say on the future of the global economy, climate change and world trade.

The foreign secretary predicted that over the next few decades China would become one of the two "powers that count", along with the US, and Europe could emerge as a third only if it learned to speak with one voice.

The remarks, in a Guardian interview, represented the most direct acknowledgement to date from a senior minister, or arguably from any western leader, of China's ascendant position in the global pecking order.

Read more ....

My Comment: David Miliband talks like a tourist who visits China and makes comments to make his hosts happy. I have had the good fortune of being a constant visitor to China since the 1980s, and I do not stay in high price hotels but in the regions outside of Shanghai and Beijing.

Life is very different out there, and to compare it to the U.S. is stupid and blind to what is the reality of China. The reality of China is this .... pollution, corruption, exploitation, poverty .... and .... if I had time .... my personal list describing China will take me the entire night. China has a long way to go before it can even remotely be called a super power .... and it can only happen if the real super power in the world (i.e. the U.S.) implodes because of Government economic and financial mismanagement.

If China is to be the future .... count me out.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not sure it is necessary to keep your populations fed in order to be a superpower. After all, the Nazis' superpowerdom rested on millions of caitiffs, slaves, KZ internees, etc.
Sorry to post anonymously. Ain't figgered it out, yet how to sign in easily.

Shoo Thaboy said...

I agree. China won't become a Superpower unless it "spreads the wealth" to the hinterland provinces like Sichuan. Gives more autonomy to Tibet and Xianjing and frees its people politically. How long can a police state with more than a billion people last? Also, China has had a rebellion every century. I hope that pattern continues

War News Updates Editor said...

Thanks for the comments.

Chinese society is percolating with unrest right now. It is not as bad as 1989 with the Tienanmen massacre .... (in my opinion it is more 1985) .... but the Chinese Government has been effective in giving a good part of its population a sense of hope that things will get better.

While this may be the case for a lot of people .... for the young and for those who live outside the cities .... that sense of hope is disappearing.

I hope that China will find its way ... and in a certain way it is a better country than what I say in the 1980s. But one thing I have learned in my life is that a situation can change very quickly to the bad .... and for China .... it does have a long history in which calm and peace can change very quickly to something that is violent and destructive.