GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON
Opponents of China, whether they be Governments or the Media, view China + see the USSR. They are caught in an inflexible mindset that starts with a flawed premise and leads to a flawed conclusion. They start + remain on the wrong track.
An alternative view comes from the former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating who has recently said;
“China is not the old Soviet Union. It is not attacking or forcibly incorporating countries into a grand union, nor is it exporting some kind of universal ideology…It is now a state as large as the United States, and with the potential of being much larger – an unforgivable sin for American triumphalists.”
Keating continues “China’s rise is simply not in the American playbook – its very existence and at this scale is an affront to America’s notion of itself as the exceptional state, the proselytizer of divine providence.”
A Few Conclusions;-
1. China does have some similarities to the old USSR – not least in the name of the governing party but the differences are much greater. Soviet citizens never travelled overseas. The USSR never welcomed foreign tourists or foreign investment. The USSR held fast to a centralised economy based on heavy industry whereas China’s economy is decentralised and widely diversified.
2. The USSR, through the Comintern, sought to promote Left groups to agitate on its behalf, whereas China is self-contained without an agenda of ideological expansion.
3. The USSR army dominated Eastern Europe with its troops under the guise of the Warsaw Pact. China has just one naval base in Djibouti and no overseas troops
China’s rise in economic growth and material prosperity contradicts Western thinking that Capitalism and Liberal Democracy is the only way forward. The World is on a different path. Beijing sees it. Washington does not see it.
NEXT POST-MONDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2021
