My insignificant other recently had a paper due on relations between China and Taiwan. She asked me about that or if I had sources she could use, and I told her that China is of little interest to me. She e-mailed me, asking why they were of little interest. (I think she was particularly confused because, as you know if you read this journal, I love international issues.) Here is my response... Feel free to comment if you think Iapos;m wrong, because I probably am.
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When I said China is of "little interest" to me (or however I exactly worded it) I was being dismissive. I didnapos;t mean that in the strict literal sense. China interests me just as any other national or international issue interests me. Clearly China is very important in the world and to ignore them would be a fatal flaw.
What I mean by it being of little interest is that I donapos;t place the same level of importance on it that most people do. China today, for me, is like Russia was in the 1980s. Russia in the 1980s was a completely useless sack of shit, but it kept coming up to be blamed for Americaapos;s problems. China today is much the same. When I hear China being mentioned, itapos;s by well-intentioned but generally ignorant fuckheads who blame China for "owning America" or sending us inferior/tainted goods or some other complaint. They donapos;t take the extra 30 seconds to step back and consider that AMERICAN policies are why we import shitty goods or that itapos;s AMERICAN companies who are selling the shares that the Chinese buy. They are doing exactly what we would be doing -- picking up the pieces of a dying empire. We did it to Spain starting in the 1890s, and most of Europe from 1945 onward. So why blame them for being like us? Isnapos;t that what America wants -- more consumers?
Internally, China is an interesting place but predictable and therefore not really something I feel the need to monitor closely. The current generation (people in their 20s and 30s) are so well off that they take no interest in democracy or politics in general. As long as they can buy goods, theyapos;re happy. Theyapos;re very much American in this way. The regime in power, the Communist Party, is a shell of its former self. Its Communist by name, but capitalist by design. Like Gorbachevapos;s slide towards capitalism and perestroika in the late 1980s, China will likely disintegrate politically in the next 10 years. Unlike Russia, they are not composed of bloc states and have little imperialist ambition, meaning the transition will likely go smoothly and be largely unnoticeable. It may change names, but hardly structure. (When the USSR became Russia again, the system only changed superficially -- you still had the same elites making money and running the government. Look how many ex-KGB officials are now elected democratically.)
So, this is why China is of "little interest" to me. Do I think they should improve their record on human rights? Sure. On the environment? Sure. But I donapos;t see this as something that can be done either internally (thereapos;s no profit for China to operate in this way) or externally through force. While I generally dread sanctions, I think sanctions on China would do wonders to get them in line with a more modern or progressive outlook. More effective still would be modifying American policies to limit Chinese imports or the owning of companies or government bonds by foreign countries.
China is like Russia in the 1980s or America today. Smog and pollution in China isnapos;t all that different from smog in LA. Human rights abuses arenapos;t far removed from our escapades in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib. We outsource our torture, but weapos;re no different. Of more interest to me is nuclear-powered, terrorist-breeding Pakistan, where the government has been unstable and suicidal since 1947 (at least). Or South America, which is finally gaining legitimacy for its strong indigenous movement. China is just one more country of well-fed materialists (in the Madonna sense, not the Marx sense). Until I see a sign of real political or social progress there, theyapos;re a bland vanilla flavor in a world not unlike Baskin Robbins. Why would I even pay attention to vanilla when thereapos;s so much more excitement and exotic flavor just around the corner?
Does that answer your question?
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