|
|
|
|
GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Can China Avoid the Soviet Union's Fate?
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:08:43 PM)
he People's Republic of China likes to compare itself with the United States. Both governments were forged to throw off the imperial yoke. Both are amalgams of many races and nationalities. Both are great continental powers capable of harnessing immense resources to promote national agendas around the world.
    
Beijing's bosses cite these parallels to justify China's ambition of returning Taiwan to the fold -- forcibly if necessary -- and violently suppressing movements for Tibetan independence, Moslem separatism and religious tolerance. The party line: "In a few decades we will be as prosperous, unified and democratic as you Americans."
    
Unfortunately, some observers see closer parallels to the former Soviet Union.
    
Founded in 1910 to free Russian peasants from oppressive landowners and a weak imperial government, the Soviet government quickly and ruthlessly expanded into a superpower that rivaled the United States in military might and reach. On top of nearly 300 million citizens of several dozen captive nationalities, the Soviet Union became the puppetmasters of virtually every Eastern European government. By 1989 it was buckling under the burden of superpower competition. In 1991 the communists lost power to the reformist Yeltsin. The Soviet Union broke apart into Russia and a dozen independent republics. Today Russia is a nation of 150 million struggling to build a capitalist economy from the rubble of the communist meltdown.
    
Among the Soviets' earliest converts were Mao Tsetung, Zhou Enlai and other young Chinese intellectuals who saw in communism salvation for the Chinese people from western imperialism and internal corruption. Mao's long struggle against Chiang Kaishek and the Kuomingtang would have ended disasterously without the support of dozens of ethnic minorities in northwestern China who believed his promise of ultimate political autonomy. Their help proved more valuable to Mao than the billions in American aid and direct military assistance to Chiang. By 1949 the Kuomingtang had fled to Taiwan and the PRC ruled the mainland.
    
Beijing's bosses have been as ruthless as the Soviets in consolidating territory and suppressing separatist movements. But they have been far more successful in creating a functioning economy. They began capitalist reforms in 1979. By 2001 China's economy had become free enough to enter the World Trade Organization. For the past two decades it has grown at an average annual rate of 9%. Few of China's 1.25 billion go hungry and about 125 million enjoy living standards comparable to Malaysia and the Philippines. By some measure China has just surpassed Japan in GDP and will surpass the U.S. by 2025.
    
But China's future as a united nation is far from assured.
    
Even assuming peaceful reunification with Taiwan and victory over Tibetan separatists, Beijing's leaders face some big hurdles. They must integrate a billion subsistence-level farmers and workers into the consumer economy of the east coast or face ethnic discontent on a scale that would dwarf America's racial strife of the 1960s. Yet burdening the developed regions could breed separatist sentiment in Guangdong, Fujien, Manchuria and other regions. Over 100 languages and dialects are spoken in China. Long-suppressed religious minorities are becoming better organized thanks to the internet and other communications technology.
    
Are China's prospects for staying united more like those of the U.S. or of the former Soviet Union?
This interactive article is closed to new input.
Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
CONTACT US
|
ADVERTISING INFO
© 1996-2013 Asian Media Group Inc
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission.
|
|
|
|
WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
""Wait aminute? If Yao Ming is in America, then that means that something is wrong where he was origionally from! What could that be?"""
Nothing is wrong there. He is having a good life over there as well. But he also wants to be in the NBA and challenge their player. This is what globalization means, so is there anything wrong with that? There is HUMAN RIGHT because the Chinese government said to him "Go and make us pround". No restriction, part of globalization.
""Maybe its the fact that Yao has to give China cuts of his Check in order to buy more red flags and cheap weapons.""
I have to say this is the stupidest things you have posted. I guessed you didn't know that every citizen pay taxes to their country. Kinda like yourself paying taxes to the Chinese government when you were living there. I'm surprise why you decided to work in China in the first place and pay your own taxes. And now you're paying taxes to the US government.
""In this respect America is funding communism similar to Afghanistan and Palestine and Kuwait."""
Do you mean, kinda like how you fund China too. You have no idea what your talking about, you don't make any sense.
""Perhaps we should stop paying him and send him home broke so China isn't finally able to afford a brand new, OBSOLETE weapon""
I can see you disrespecting Yao Ming, could it be the fact that there are Chinese in the NBA? Well for you to know that this is just the beginning of the Chinese invasion of NBA. In two more years it will be twice and then three times as much. And the people who lives in the project will stay there.
pumkin pie
  
Sunday, April 13, 2003 at 15:07:28 (PDT)
   [24.239.152.113]
Here is a fact for you to consider about China and the US in responce to the pathetic rambling's of AC Dropout about America executing Child killers/molesters and juvenile murderers:
______________________________________
China, Iran and U.S. Top Executioners, Amnesty Says
Fri Apr 11,10:08 AM ET
GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 1,526 people were executed worldwide last year, with 80 percent of all known executions carried out in China, Iran and the United States, Amnesty International said on Friday
-"The top three executioner states were China -- with 1,060 executions in only one year -- Iran with 113 executions and the United States with 71 executions," she added.
-While the number of executions worldwide appeared to have halved in 2002 from 3,048 executions in 2001, it was difficult to compare as the true number of people executed in China was believed to be much higher, according to Amnesty.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030411/wl_nm/rights_executions_dc_3
OK ACD
take this simple test for me.
#1 Why is it difficult to ascertain how many people actually are executed in China?
A) Because China issues untrue reports
B) Because China issues untrue reports
C) Because China issues untrue reports
D) Because China kills so many people it is difficult to actually count.
#2 Why are so many people in China executed?
Answer
A) because the PRC GOV wants to strike fear in the hearts of its citizens?
B) because the PRC GOV wants to strike fear in the hearts of its citizens?
C) because the PRC GOV wants to strike fear in the hearts of its citizens?
D) Because people have no choice but to do illegal things and risk capture and execution less they starve, suffer or die.
#3 WHO IS a PIONEER in EXECUTION?
A) China
B) PRC
C) Zhong Hua Ren Min Gong He Guo
D) Mainland China
#4 Who executes people simply for practicing Falun Gong and doing their excersizes to gain mental peace of mind?
A) China
B) PRC
C) Zhong Hua Ren Min Gong He Guo
D) Mainland China
#5 Who mentions only the most ridiculous, unprovable, theoreticaly absurd loads of BS on this trhead until the day it is closed for input?
A) AC Dropout
B) AC Dropout
C) A & B
D) All of the Above
#6 How many people in ACD's family ued to work in barbershops for Yuan.
A)3
B)4
C) all of em'
D) generations 1 - present
#7 how will ACD reply to my inquest?
A) insulting the Ghetto
B) insulting Trailer parks
C) telling me "Id like fries with that"
D) another BS retort
I heard by word of mouth that in a PRC prison, inmates have to choose 1 torture from menu A, 2 tortures from menu B and an after-torture torture from menu C.
If All of the FACTUAL documentation I grab from the internet news and secondary websites isn't enough to shut a lair up...what is?
China wants to Execute NS
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 20:54:59 (PDT)
   [68.161.74.194]
However, the mere fact that you are aware of the FLG plight in China, means that the PRC allow the public to know.
AC Dropout
---No, I am aware of Falun Gong because of the people in front of the Chinese Consulate like the little Chinese lady passing out Flyers talking about Chinese injustice to FG members. Then I began seeing and noticeing the kidnapping reports.
Girl Supporting Nick
--thank you for not buying into propaganda, lies and deceit. Actually, on this page, no one really makes factual comments. Maybe these aren't mistruths but, misunderstandings.
The White Boy
---I know you are BS because you have a home that is mobile and a car that isn't. Ghetto jokes? Try something more harsh. Ac Dropouts backup strategy is ghetto jokes but even he gets no where with those.
I don't need to read books because I have first hand knowledge from my Chinese friends. Unlike you, you should read more books more often and enlightened yourself a little, cause FG is bad. Anyone who knows about it, knows it's bad. If you don't then you musta been part of it.
---You are a fool. "You don't need to read books because your Chin friends told you..." Are you kidding me? That is the most laughable thing I've ever heard. I'm here talking about Chinese propaganda and you reply to me that "it is wrong because they say it is"! Your worse than I thought. Do you refuse to read because you are illiterate? If so I know people who can help you.
ACD
The japanese did not pioneer plastic/composites. America did, ABS material CFI material and GMD is an American developed masterpiece. The Japanese DONT EVEN HAVE RAW MATERIALS. How can you sit there and LIE like that? You are such a BS'er. Tell your mom I said 200 Yuan is too much! Her service i only worth 50 Jiao.
Does your gf practice FLG too? Don't tell me she introduced you to FLG....hahaha.
ACD
--Actually she is against Falun Gong and believes everything her twisted PRC government says about it. But, hey, I'm not going to marry her for her political views.
What do you expect from a girl from An Hui anyway. Oops, maybe I shouldn't tell Ac Dropout where she is from. He has only set foot in his mother land twice and doesn't even know where An Hui is. Say whatever you want cause I already know your full of sh1t.
SARS IS CHINA's UNDOING
Honestly I think the Sars thing is gonna blow over within a Year. Hoeever, one should worry aboutnew superviruses popping up in South East Asia. If I know the US government, they will probably beef up customs egarding Asian immigrants and travellers. Probably subject them to class-8 checks.
As for Tourism, WELL I personally know of Chinese study abroads and programs with the International Consortium for Froeign Study that have totally cancelled scheduled programs for the Nanjing, Shanghai and Taiwan study abroads. Each Student would have been an extra $8000 in China's pocket but this year, I don't see that happening.
Lets think about it in terms of a potential study abroad student.
"I wanted to study abroad in China but with the breakout of SARS, travelling to China might cost me my health. Then I read that in China the health care is not good as well as the high AIDS rate." I dont think I'll go to Cina this year, Ill wait until SARS goes away."
What about the Parents?
"You want to go to China? You shouldn't go there. They have diseases there killing alot of people and it is passed by contact like a cold. Maybe you should go to Eaurope instead".
Or the Councelor for international Study?
"THE CHINA STUDY ABROAD THIS YEAR IS CANCELLED!"
Case Closed...
SARS points at a larger problem. The untrustworthy PRC government. Don't even listen to these lies AC Dropout is saying to shift Blame to the WHO and America. And forget these ridiculous things about America Bio-engineering SARS to destroy China.
I think I make a great spokesperson for the PRC's tourism industry too. But is too bad that I don't speak Chinese.
pumkin pie
----That is pathetic. You should learn it like I did. From now on I will not reply to any of your comments. Not until you learn enought to be on my level.
Nicholi Servia PHD
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 19:29:17 (PDT)
   [68.161.74.194]
The white man,
"Anyone who knows about it, knows it's bad. If you don't then you musta been part of it."
No kidding. He is really part of the FLG. He keeps bringing them up. I'm convinced his imaginary Chinese gf is also a FLG cult member, who has trick him to join.
He probably really does believe Li Hongzhi is higher than Jesus and Buddha.
He is a link with a short summary of all the thing that is wrong with the FLG cult.
http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/f02.html#racism
Maybe he is one of those few Black men that yearn for those old days of slavery and wants Li HongZhi to be his new master.
AC Dropout
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 13:52:23 (PDT)
   [24.136.115.189]
FOP,
"Next time you go to China, crawl out of the expat zones and see what the real China is like."
hahaha that's funny.
I finally figured out Nick. He is a freaken' FLG cult looney. He is not in the expat zones when he goes to asia. He's on some mission with his FLG cult friends. He probably got sucked in the vice grip of the FLG cult when he was too busy chasing Chinese women. And the only ones giving him the time of day were FLG women looking for American recruits.
AC Dropout
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 13:24:14 (PDT)
   [24.136.115.189]
"I don't believe one word China says about FG because I have seen what they go through and I know PRC is Lying."
Like we should we believe you in those Linclon LS, Towncar and Ford Winstar that you saw in China, but aren't sold by Ford China yet, right?
FOP
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 10:00:58 (PDT)
   [66.135.128.76]
"Wait aminute? If Yao Ming is in America, then that means that something is wrong where he was origionally from! What could that be?
Maybe its the fact that Yao has to give China cuts of his Check in order to buy more red flags and cheap weapons. In this respect America is funding communism similar to Afghanistan and Palestine and Kuwait. Perhaps we should stop paying him and send him home broke so China isn't finally able to afford a brand new, OBSOLETE weapon."
Sounds like we should also send those Russian NHL players and Cuban MLB players back as well. Russian military sold jamming devices to the Iraq during the war. By hiring them, we are indirectly funding their governments on hostile military projects. So what's your take on that, Nick? Don't forget the French and the German too. They did not support us on the war. Should we stop drinking French wine, remove Voltaire, Hugo, Goethe, and Nietzsche's works from college syllabuses
FOP
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 09:56:57 (PDT)
   [66.135.128.76]
Nick the FLG cult member,
"If Yao Ming is in America, then that means that something is wrong where he was origionally from!"
No you moron, Yao Ming is in America because there is something wrong with the modern day Black athlete. They are all wannabe thug drug dealers, when they should be focusing on the the simple game of b-ball.
"Yao has to give China cuts of his Check in order to buy more red flags and cheap weapons"
Yao is a PRC expat working in the USA. So of course he has to pay PRC taxes. If you work abroad you have to pay tax to the USA as well. Because you are so ignorant of this simple fact of income taxation, I highly doubt your claim that you have ever worked overseas ligitamately.
Can you even name the tax form you are suppose to fill as a USA expat employed overseas? Can you even tell me what is the income bracket of the first million dollar, let alone the tenth million dollar reported for income? The 15th is almost here, so your accountant should have provided you the answers to these questions already. That's if you even make that much.
"Popular Media? What is that?"
It means dumbass that there is no such thing as Asian wannabe kungfu fighters in popular media, unlike the black counterpart. That even if we are portrayed negatively as organised criminal, we are not portray as common hoods like (i.e. hispanics and blacks) on tv. It means if a murder happens to a white person, chances are the police are looking for a black male and not an asian male. It means chances are, an asian in a luxury car is usually not suspected of car robbery or drug dealing.
Like you said yourself, you walk into a Humvee dealership and they think your a rapper or a drug dealer. I walk in and I am above these racially sterotypical careers.
Need I be your rude awakening to American culture, you FLG cultist?
AC Dropout
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 09:36:09 (PDT)
   [24.136.115.189]
"Do you really think WE are better than the Chinese. Look at us, we are serial killer, unibomer and child molesters. Any way you should do what I do and help your friends like I did.
The White Boy"
Right, so all white people are serial killers, unabombers (the correct spelling, obviously you never passed the 8th grade- your grammar is atrocious) or child molesters? What's up with putting down your own people and being a white apologist? "Oh I'm a horrible white person, it's all my fault that there was slavery 200 years ago". Whatever dude, grow a spine.
The problem with SARS it not just how it is affecting the Hong Kong and Chinese economy, but how it is adversely affecting their IMAGE around the world.
"Sometimes US's power is just not enough to contain China. If you really think about it, China is like the HULK right now, once the hulk breaks lose there is no stoping him. US will stay no more longer, and it's time to be Dethrone."
Okay, you are just delusional. So what if China is a huge country with 1.2 billion people? More than 40% of them live in dire poverty. We've gone over this point before- size doesn't equate to strength. England is a tiny country and its empire once stretched around the globe. And why is everyone on this board so anti-America? You want to see America fall apart, so you can laugh? So you come to America, enjoy all of its freedoms and opportunities, and then just s**t all over it? It's been said before, if you love China so much, why don't you live there? I'm sure my buddy Nick will agree.
SARS- China's downfall
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 09:25:12 (PDT)
   [207.183.118.61]
WTO and China....The history is that PRC fought to not be admitted into WTO for 9 years. China feared its markets would be opened to foriegn investors and the debacle that occurred in South America would occur in China.
The USA was very interested in having China open up under the governing body of the WTO.
So for 9 years it negotiated with the WTO so that it would be admitted on PRC terms. To the dismay of the ROC. Since it was an unsaid agreement that the ROC would never get admitted unless the PRC was admitted first.
So get your facts straight only the ROC and USA wanted the PRC to enter the WTO ASAP. PRC was taking its sweet old time to enter.
AC Dropout
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 09:13:09 (PDT)
   [24.136.115.189]
Nick the FLG cult member,
"Insulting a Chinese girl?"
Get real, you're the one that insulted her by comparing her to an inanimate object. I even try to help you save face by taking your analogy and defining it to another inanimate object. Name one girl, besides the imaginary one in your head, that would feel flatter being compared to a car. Name one Chinese person that is flattered to be compared to a color yellow. You keep forgetting Asians are not Black. We don't identify with colors.
Perhaps you are too dense to know what a status drop is, since you have none to begin with.
Your other stuff is just senseless ranting which warrant no reply.
As if Americans aren't dying everyday in Iraq right now. You are a moron of the highest order.
AC Dropout
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 09:08:28 (PDT)
   [24.136.115.189]
SARS,
I'm Chinese and my skin color is not yellow like a standard Humvee. I guess neither you nor Nick have been around too many Chinese people to know better.
"Last I checked Basketball number one sport."
I will challenge you on that. I believe the #1 sport worldwide is soccer. Or football is it is call everywhere else on the planet.
"Rap and Hip Hop was the number one media."
I will challenge you on this also. The number one music category is Country Western in the USA based on sales. World wide I believe European Classical have a larger following.
"I may be a Chinese but I still recognize talent when I see it."
I challenge this claim too. Based on the amount of ignorance in your post. What part of you is Chinese. It is obvious you are culturally isolated from those who would actually be considered Chinese. Is you claim purely a phenotypical one.
"And if America did drop in Social status or whatever, it is still in the #1 position because I can't name a single other place better."
Now you are getting to insights which few people are able to acknowledge. This is the same logic many people choose not to immigrate in the first place. When China was a total mess a century ago, many people choose not to leave for the same reasons. The only country I know of with more overseas population than the native country is Ireland. If you want to use sentiment as a reason for staying when the worst arrives, that is your own personal choice.
What crediential need I provide. My handle labels me as a Dropout.
AC Dropout
  
Friday, April 11, 2003 at 08:59:17 (PDT)
   [24.136.115.189]
NEWEST COMMENTS |
EARLIER COMMENTS
|