In
the year of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China,
Chinese leaders have to accept that the price of becoming a world leader
is the envy and resentment of their international rivals (particularly
the USA which is seeing its own star simultaneously decline). The Chinese
model is very different from the West because of its unique characteristics
and the circumstances from which it evolved. We can learn from its success
but at the same time the role of models is limited and we must accept
and respect the massive differences between their cultural development
over thousand of years and ours - yet still celebrate what we have in
common.
I am disappointed that while China is bursting with change, nothing
much seems to change in the attitudes of the West. As China celebrates
60 years as an independent republic, the United States of America is
vigorously pursuing the same anti-Chinese propaganda war that it started
in 1949. Although the election of Obama as US President seemed to promise
so much, it soon became clear that China was still the bete noire
of the US.
U.S. trade sanctions against China in September appeared petty and silly,
and probably had more to do with U.S. domestic politics than whatever
Chinese exporters were doing. America has an ideological objection to
government-owned businesses competing with them in the market - but
sees no problem with giving its farmers the highest government subsidies
in the World. American economic theory seems to be to "socialise
the debt" (let the taxpayer pick up the bill) and "privatise
the profits".
I am disappointed that there does not yet appear to be any obvious public
campaign indicating a Chinese government that is coming to terms with
China's two great problems: an increasingly polluted environment and
the widening gap between rich and poor. The current government team
of Chairman/President Hu Jin Tao (who is the most powerful man in the
world) and Premier Wen Jia Bao are widely acknowledged as the best for
the job. However the Chinese media buzzwords are all about "a harmonious
society" and "awakening the mind" (which was a phrase
used by Deng Xiao Ping when he introduced "Reform and Opening-up"
and thus created the New China). Perhaps I am missing a subtle sub-text
that explains their unspoken policy?
2009 was the year that the hysterically anti-Chinese Australian media
started using the phrase "Han Chinese" when referring to Chinese
nationals that were neither Tibetan nor Uighur. Perhaps this was most
embarrassing for them when Uighur thugs murdered 200 unarmed "Han
Chinese" at the instigation of their US-based leader Rebiya Kadeer.
Does any of this sound familiar? Sure, especially when you remember
that the last mass slaughter of "Han Chinese" was during the
failed "Free Tibet" Lhasa riots in March 2008 - which the
Chinese Government foresaw after hacking into the Dalai Lama's computers
and ordered the PLA to exercise restraint. Consequently tourists from
all around the world (some with video cameras and YouTube accounts)
got to see PLA in trying to help the victims of the Dalai's thugs as
they beat-up and even killed unarmed "Han Chinese".
The phoney "Free Tibet" movement is now dead in the water
(and hopefully, it's aging leader will soon follow), while the Uighur
separatist cause dealt itself a fatal blow to its image with the very
public violence in Urumqi. Presumably it will soon follow the ludicrously
inept, US funded Falun Gong cult into oblivion.
During my 2009 visit CCTV9 has been running a well-produced and fascinating
series of Travelogues on Taiwan - together with a series of background
briefings on improving trade and cultural relations between this "province"
and the rest
of China. Perhaps the most interesting innovation is the proposed 're-uniting'
of the treasures of Beijing's Imperial Palace Museum and the National
Palace Museum collection in Taipei.
The latter is by far the largest and most impressive, having been successfully
rescued by the Nationalists during the Japanese invasion and ultimately
transferred to Taiwan during the revolution. Not a single piece was
broken. The CPC said the treasures were "looted" (which depends
on your point of view I suppose - rather like the Elgin marbles) and
the Nationalists pointed out that if they had not moved everything to
Taiwan it would have been lost when rampaging Red Guards swept through
the country during the Cultural Revolution, destroying temples, antiques
and all other reminders of China's "bourgeois past".
Now both sides have joined in celebrating the preservation of China's
cultural heritage.
Meanwhile, on the Eve of China's National Day, I sat with my friend
and tour guide Liao Yun in our hotel in Xi'an, to watch my Prime Minister,
Kevin Rudd, congratulate China in fluent Mandarin. She agreed that his
Chinese was perfect, but reminded me that he HAD allowed Rebiya Kadeer
into Australia. Notwithstanding, I wondered how many non-Chinese national
leaders ever got a television audience of that size and felt my little
Aussie heart swell with pride.
Good one Kev! - Nobody's perfect!
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