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| Are all Americans being bred into hawks? |
Even here in Hong Kong we have this discussion about China. Whenever I criticise China, I'm accused of hating China. I do not, I say, hate China. I hate Xi Jinping, its president and what he's doing to China's opening up — that is to say, closing it down. Our own son is half Chinese, I say. I travel a lot to China, chat with "the broad masses of the Chinese people" and get along with them just fine... all the while uncomfortably feeling like I'm reprising that old Python classic "I like Chinese".
But still, I hope my point is not just made, but taken. Point being: my beef is with the current government, not its people. Deng Xiaoping, great. Jiang Zemin, good. Even that funny old stick Hu Jintao, fine. But Xi is different and dangerous.
He's cracking down with censorship and jailing any dissidents. He's talking about a new Cultural Revolution. He's extending the long arms of his security goons to kidnappings of China-critical writers right here in Hong Kong. Most egregious, he has arrested and put into labour camps around a million Muslim Uighurs.
Anyone reading this blog will know my views on Islam. I've no love for that ideology. But to jail — to "provide free vocational training" (!) according to Xi — a million of its adherents? That's wrong and that's criminal. Why it's not being called out more by the Trump administration is beyond me.
A friend who lives in Beijing, having done 40+ years of business there, tells me a meme amongst Chinese these days is that China has had two major reformers: one Deng Xiaoping (agree). The other Donald Trump (discuss). Pretty amazing stuff!
Back to my main point: one can hate a regime, but love its people. And in the case of horrid regimes, one should hate the regime but love its people. Like Russians during Soviet times. Or Venezuelans with today's Maduro. And, yes, maybe even Germans in the time of Hitler.
The article linked below, by Chi Wang, is a very thoughtful piece by someone who knows America and knows China. It's full of good book suggestions. And observations of the dangers I mention above: the danger of conflating fears of governments with fears of peoples.
By the way, I don't agree with him that the Pillsbury book is alarmist. It was a useful wake up call to China's mercantilism. Pillsbury is not a true hawk. He thinks be tough on Xi; but continue talking. I'd agree with that.
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But what is lost in the discourse on China in the US is a proper articulation of what exactly there is to be afraid or suspicious of. Instead of "Americans are afraid of China", what should really be said is "Americans are afraid of China's government". They are afraid of the implications of an aggressive leader like Xi Jinping building a Mao-like cult around his personality. From: When Americans fear China, what are they really afraid of?
