PERSPECTIVES ON CHINA
by
Frederick Serafim
Initial Publication July 2021
CRYTERION.COM
In 2018 my wife and I decided to travel to China for a few weeks. I returned with a much more favourable view of the country and so I decided to add some Chinese English language publications to my range of daily news outlets, in order to gain a more balanced perspective on world issues. I read news from the likes of American, European, Middle Eastern, Asian, Russian outlets, etc., to China Global Times and China Daily. I've come to trust these official Chinese publications to be the most sincere in trying to foster world cooperation, though they are now being forced into a more defensive posture by the recent diplomatic aggression of US administrations. Although there are no perfect sociopolitical systems and likely never will be, China, at this point is very misunderstood by western populations. Our views are often outdated and still largely based upon memories of the Mao era repressions. Being that neither the right nor left wing news providers are offering any defence of China, I thought that in the interest of fairness, I should take on the challenge and try to open up at least a few minds.
IS CHINA A COMMUNIST COUNTRY?
Not really. It was, but they found straight communism to be flawed and therefore evolved over the last decades to become a socialistic free enterprise society.
However, they don't condemn Mao's communistic experiment, but rather look back at it as an educational step in their sociopolitical development, and therefore,
at least for now, they still retain the name of the Chinese Communist Party.
ARE CHINESE CITIZENS ALLOWED TO VOTE?
Yes. They vote for county representatives, who in turn vote to choose the higher governmental officials. It is true that there is only one political
party, but there are various sub-parties within the one party, who are encouraged to express their views through reasoned debate. There are power struggles
within the Party, but what the Chinese are trying to avoid is extreme partisan divides whereby one party fears the socio-economic success of another party's
policies, and therefore purposely tries to obstruct that success for their own political ends, to the detriment of the country as a whole. This is currently an
extreme problem in the US.
IS CHINA AN AUTHORITARIAN STATE?
Yes, but only to a point. China is an experiment in benevolent authoritarianism with the stated purpose of trying to enhance the well being of the
greatest number of people possible, both within their own borders and beyond. To this extent they have thus far been remarkably successful. A recent
Harvard University study, conducted over 15 years, found that 95% of Chinese citizens claim to be either satisfied or very satisfied with their
government. It's not surprising, because over the last 4 decades China has lifted itself out of poverty to become a marvel of modern efficiency and the 2nd
strongest economy in the world. What they don't want is wild-west democracy and destructive free speech. If you want change, you work through the system,
and in this manner their society has recently undergone a significant positive evolution. They don't want a repeat of Russia's Boris Yeltsin-style overnight
democracy fiasco, which in turn led to rule by corrupt oligarchs. That being said, China is tolerant of people expressing dissenting views on social media etc.
so long as those views don't coalesce into a tangible threat against the government. China also allows for the study of religion under the same terms.
Harvard China Research Study
Australian Citizen Living in China Explains the Benefits
DID CHINA COMMIT GENOCIDE AGAINST THE UYGHURS OF XINJIAN PROVINCE?
Very unlikely. Islamic extremists among the Uyghur population engaged in a series of deadly bombings, killing hundreds of people in both Beijing and Tianjin,
the Xinjian capitol. Unlike the US, the Chinese did not go into Xinjian with guns blazing and bombs dropping. However, they did conduct an extensive
police crackdown and imprisoned a lot of people suspected of being sympathetic to the extremist cause. We'll never know the exact number of those who have
been imprisoned due to the politicization of the issue. Definitely, the Chinese don't put up with insurrection, but they claim that the prisons are also
used as retraining centers to teach job skills vital to social reintegration. It should also be noted that during the years when China was threatened with
over-population and therefore limited families to having only one child, smaller ethnic groups such as the Uyghurs were allowed three. Later, China decided to
allow all families to have up to two children. Some felt this was unfair to the Uyghurs, but certainly China has been successful in ending the violence, and they have
provided a lot of economic assistance to Xinjian, so the rest of the world should probably stay out of China's internal matters. There's more than enough actual
proof of genocides (by the standards now being applied) having been committed by many of the accusers - such as the American genocide of indigenous peoples etc.
Uyghur detainees discuss conditions and circumstances at detention centres
IS CHINA TO BLAME FOR THE COVID19 PANDEMIC?
Absolutely not! Firstly, the cause of the biological viral creation, and now more importantly, the cause of the viral pandemic spread are two very separate issues.
At this point China has had the virus almost totally under control for more than a year, and have limited the total number of infections to 93000 and deaths
to 4600. Compare this to the US with 35 million infections and over 600,000 deaths, and still rising, despite having only a quarter of China's population.
Critics claim that China botched the early stages of the virus and point to the arrest of Dr.Li Wenliang, who first blew the whistle. The truth is that certain
Wuhan police officials arrested Dr. Li for potentially causing mass panic by using social media, rather than going through the official channels. The mistake the
police made was in failing to recognize his medical credentials. The Beijing government saw this and stepped in to exonerate the doctor, reprimand the police
and begin the investigation and lock down. This information was provided to the rest of the world allowing plenty of time to respond to the threat. My wife who is
a retired nursing professor was warning about the need for lock downs in late January of 2020, before there were virtually any reported cases in America and very few
in Europe. Politicians around the world, and especially in the US, held up the response for the sake of their economies. Now the US is still trying to coerce the WHO
into investigating the Wuhan Virology lab for a 2nd time, even though the medical experts agree that it is very unlikely that the virus was man-made. In fact the only
known breach of a virology lab occurred at Fort Detrick Maryland, not long before Wuhan played host to the International Military Olympic Games and the beginning
of the pandemic, but the US is totally ignoring these ominous facts. Although the Fort Detrick breach is also an unlikely source of the virus, the fact that there
was a known breach warrants greater reason for an investigation there, rather than in Wuhan for a 2nd time. Also, who knows just how dark the depths of the Trump
administration. It would be medically beneficial to know how the virus started, but now that the US has irredeemably politicized the issue, we'll probably never
know the truth. It's interesting to note how epidemiological experts were able to find the cause of the 2009 H1N1 "swine flu" virus, which was not politicized.
The H1N1 was discovered in California, where it first spread in large numbers before infecting countries around the world. Later, it was traced back to a US owned
pork plant in Mexico, where very few infections occurred because the products were being shipped to the US. But in this case the experts were allowed to work
unfettered by political considerations. A similar scenario could easily have played out in Wuhan. On March 11 2020, CDC Director Robert Redfield disclosed the
fact that earlier Covid cases in the US had been misdiagnosed as "flu", and in Florida, Chief Covid data analyst, Rebekah Jones, came into direct conflict with
Governor Ron DeSantis for refusing to alter her data in such a way as to understate the number of cases, and the timing of the initial cases, which she claims
may have dated back to late December 2019 and early January of 2020. She has since been arrested and accused of "manipulating data".
Fired Florida Covid data scientist's lawsuit calls search of her home 'retaliation'
Data Analyst claims Florida altered her Covid data
CDC Director claims early Covid cases misdiagnosed in US
Account by Australian researcher working at Wuhan lab
Covid and International Military Olympic Games in Wuhan Oct. 2019
Fox News coverage of Fort Detrick July 2019 lab breach
Dr. Li Wenliang - Wuhan virus whistleblower
IS CHINA HACKING AMERICAN CYBER SYSTEMS?
Probably yes, but if they aren't they'd better start, because the US has long been hacking them. China has repeatedly complained about cyberhacking without naming
anyone as the specific culprit. It's very difficult to prove who's behind such attacks and easy for hackers to frame others for their work.
US cyber operative, Edward Snowden, resigned in disgust from the US National Security Agency and defected to Russia, when he realized that he was being used to
conduct very unscrupulous cyber attacks against both rival countries and allies. He was recruited to defend US cyberspace but then found that defence was a small
part of his work while working for the world's largest cyber intelligence network.
Though there is evidence of Chinese corporate hacking, especially of Canada's Nortel Networks, it's unlikely that hacking had much to do with China's development of
their advanced technology. China has long demonstrated advanced technological capabilities. For example, Charles Kuen Kao, the father of fibre optic communication was
born in Shanghai. If hacking was the cause of China's technological rise, the big US tech companies would have launched lawsuits, but they never have because they
willingly agreed to share their tech in order to enter China's huge lucrative market and reap in billions. However, that hasn't prevented the US from smearing China
with accusations of cyber hacking and intellectual property theft. In fact, the only clear cut tech lawsuit ever successfully launched by a US firm occurred when
T Mobile sued for theft of a robotic arm from a convention, by a rogue Chinese employee. The employee was fired and the company paid out more in damages than what
it would have cost to buy the rights to the relatively low tech item. The US is continuing to condemn China for various unproven accusations and their pre-2001 trade
practices, when they were not bound by WTO membership rules. However, since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has abided by WTO rules. The same is
not true for the US, who under Donald Trump imposed unlawful tariffs on Chinese goods, thus forcing China to tacitly take reciprocal action. Ultimately, hacking has
been a two way street and it's hypocritical to lay blame without also admitting guilt for the same behaviour.
IS CHINA THE MOST POLLUTIVE COUNTRY?
Not really. Up until the late 1980's China was an agrarian society that contributed a very small proportion of the world's pollution. Only very recently has their per capita production of hydrocarbons risen, but only to less than 1/2 that of western countries such as the United States, Australia and Canada. But, being that
China has the largest population in the world at 1.4 billion people, in gross terms they are currently the largest polluter, and therefore the government has instituted a plan to reduce carbon production and be carbon neutral by 2060. The good thing with China is that they have a proven track record at achieving their stated objectives, and there is no opposition party in place to obstruct their plans, such as there is in the US.
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN HONG KONG AND TAIWAN
Let's start with HONG KONG. In the mid 19th century the British were intent upon exporting opium from their Indian colonies into China, against the will of the
Chinese rulers. Thus began the Opium Wars in which Britain attacked and stole Hong Kong from the Chinese, in order to use it as a staging port for the forced
importation of opium into China. For many years China complained bitterly about this until finally Britain agreed to hand back Hong Kong to China in 1997,
as a semi-autonomous state with greater freedoms than the mainland. Hong Kong thrived under this plan up until western backed democratic agitators started
protesting in the streets, demanding full western style democracy and independence. Most HK citizens did not fully support the protests being that they posed
an impediment to the stability required to maintain the thriving economy. Therefore, the semi-autonomous government of Hong Kong cracked down on the agitators.
TAIWAN, formerly known as the island of Formosa, is a different but similar story. In 1929, the western-backed warlord, Chiang Kai-Shek, took
control of China and maintained a precarious hold on power, until he was overthrown by Mao and the communist party in 1949. He was forced to retreat to
the island of Formosa (now Taiwan), where he imposed Marshall law and created the modern autonomous state of Taiwan. China agreed to tolerate the existence of
Taiwan, so long as the U.N. agreed to not recognize Taiwan as an independent country. This agreement has held through seven decades, and the two entities have
maintained order and conducted mutually beneficial trade practices. In fact, a poll released by Taiwan's Chengchi University in July 2021, showed that 87.4% of Taiwanese citizens prefer to continue maintaining the status quo. However, now under both Trump and Biden, the US has decided to try and use Taiwan as a thorn in China's side by reneging on honouring that agreement and regularly encouraging the secessionists, sailing warships through the Taiwan straits, landing military aircraft, and prohibiting Taiwan from selling certain high tech goods to China. In particular, China, who does produce low and medium grade semi-conductors, was always content to buy their highest end Kirin semi-conductor chips from Taiwan, but now because of the US embargo, they are being forced to develop their own high end semi-conductor industry, which will take them at least 4 or 5 years. For now it's an economic lose/lose situation for both Taiwan and China, but it serves the US intention of trying to slow China's technological growth. However, once China does fully implement its own high end chip infrastructure it will serve as another dent in the US technological armor. Should the US ever succeed in instigating a proxy war pitting Taiwan against China, they'll surely shed many crocodile tears for the Taiwanese victims. China probably should try to negotiate an alliance with Taiwan in which they recognize their full statehood, but it would be a negotiation complicated by the ill-intentions of the US towards China, and it's not an issue that's clearly defined by the Taiwanese people, only certain politicians. The current pro-independence DPP party only recently finally took power from the status-quo KMT over domestic issues, not their pro-independence stance.
Taiwanese Preference for Status-Quo Remains Constant
DOES THE SOUTH CHINA SEA BELONG TO CHINA?
No, not according to the UN, but Mao laid claim to much of the sea, based upon China's historical dominance of the area over thousands of years and their control of the majority of the sea's islands and reefs. China possibly should relinquish their formal claim to parts of the sea, but what they're trying to do is maintain fishery health, avoid being potentially denied free access to the ocean, and prevent de facto US control of the sea. They've never interfered with freedom of navigation. Currently, the US is constantly sailing warships through the area and trying to stir up other nations in the region against China. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei have no disputes with China. The Philippines and Vietnam welcome the US presence in the region, but caution against US naval belligerence. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are more closely allied with the US, but Japan's dispute with China is over islands which they took from China during the 2nd World War, and South Korea has no disputed claims in the region. It's a bit of a
complicated issue, made more complicated by the US purposely stirring the pot. It's not called the South "China" Sea for nothing, and just imagine how Americans
would feel if China was sailing its warships around the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and offering aid to Cuba, Haiti and South and Central American countries,
while stoking hostility towards the US. Although the Biden administration is pursuing a healthier approach to US domestic and allied policy, their policies towards
China are still at least as counter-productive towards world peace, as the former administration. The US is displaying a highly irrational degree of fear of
China's economic growth, and are needlessly pursuing a recklessly antagonistic strategy in trying to contain China. They're trying to bait China into starting a
limited naval conflict, in which the US will try to claim the moral high ground, in an effort to consolidate world opinion in their favour. At this point, although
China has greater military forces in the Pacific theatre, the US can pull in forces from around the globe. The US military knows that if they are going to actually
engage Chinese forces, now would be the time to do it because China's economic and military strength is still growing at a faster rate. However, China is not WWII
Japan and they have no intention of falling into this trap. The question now is whether the US might initiate a military incident, and then fabricate evidence in
order to blame China. If they attempt using this tactic, assuming that China will back down, they are probably wrong. According to an Australian study, China would
overwhelm US Pacific forces within hours if attacked, and possibly win a protracted war. It's all just a matter of what unhinged behaviour the US is now capable
of. China has always maintained that their military build up is strictly defensive in nature, whereas the US has displayed a notable track record of attacking
foreign countries who present no serious threat to their existence or world dominance. Hopefully, sanity will prevail.
Top US Marine General Warns US Would Lose Pacific War Against China March 2023
Australian Study Re: US vs China Military
Bloomberg Re: US vs China Military
CHINA'S "HELEN OF TROY" - CANADA'S DISPUTE WITH CHINA OVER MENG WANZHOU'S POSSIBLE EXTRADITION TO THE US
No doubt Ms. Meng's love affair with Canada, where she owns two homes and has spent considerable time, is over.
In early December 2018, the Canadian Border Services detained Huawei Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, at the behest of the FBI, as she landed at Vancouver
International Airport. She was then arrested by the RCMP, for what at the time, was reported as being contravention of the US sanctions against Iran, under the
terms of the US / Canada extradition treaty. At first, a number of senior Canadian officials, including Ambassador to China, John McCallum, thought that she
should be released being that it isn't a crime in Canada to do business with Iran, and therefore not covered under the extradition treaty. However, at the time
the Trump administration was pressuring Canada with tariffs and aggressive language, even naming Canada a national security threat. Prime minister Justin Trudeau,
bowed to pressure and continued the detention and extradition process, while demanding the resignation of John McCallum. Prosecutors, realizing that they had no
legitimate case as it was first reported, instead filed charges of bank fraud, claiming that Meng Wanzhou lied to the British bank HSBC, when applying for
funding to create the Huawei subsidiary company Skycom, by omitting the fact that Skycom was being created in order to do business with Iran, and thus keep
Huawei itself clear of contravening the US sanctions on Iran. Creating a subsidiary to circumvent sanctions is a fairly routine international procedure. Even
Canadian companies use this approach to circumvent the US embargo on Cuba, without any repercussions for the parent company. Also, there was no need
for Ms. Meng to lie to HSBC, being that HSBC is well known for having been cited and prosecuted for knowingly entering into illegal deals with drug cartels
and Ponzi scheme operators. It would have been no issue for them to assist with the relatively minor circumvention of US sanctions against Iran.
HSBC did offer to provide proof of Ms Meng's truthfulness, but the Canadian court refused the evidence saying that it would be for a US court to consider it.
It should be noted at this point that the Canadian Border Services (CBSA) used their powers to confiscate all of Ms. Meng's personal possessions, including her
laptop, which was an action that the RCMP would not have been allowed to undertake. Then, more importantly, the CBSA illegally handed over the contents of
Ms. Meng's possessions to the FBI. The CBSA explanation of the handover is that they did it "accidentally". (Oh, well then it's alright) Now we have the FBI
claiming that they are in possession of Ms. Meng's Powerpoint presentation to HSBC, and lo and behold, there's no mention of the intention of Skycom to do
business with Iran. Of course, Ms. Meng's defence is that the FBI has deleted the Powerpoint slides pertaining to Iran, and that an illegal breach of process
by the CBSA has given the FBI illegal access to the Powerpoint. Also, they claim Ms. Meng's arrest is just part of the US effort to contain the growth of
Chinese technology. In what was seen as a retaliatory move, China then arrested two Canadian men living in China, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, and charged
them with spying. In response to Canada's protest that these arrests were unwarranted, China claimed that they had been watching these two somewhat high profile
men for a while. Michael Spavor, who ran a company offering tours out of China into North Korea, gained media attention when he was arrested in South Korea for
causing a disturbance at a soccer game by waving a North Korean flag. In America, he is better known as the travel consultant who arranged for Dennis Rodman to
organize a basketball tournament in North Korea. Rodman took a lot of flak in the US media for this action, though to him it was just basketball diplomacy.
Michael Kovrig was a career diplomat who at the time of his arrest had taken a position in China with the International Crisis Group pro-peace think tank.
China claims that Spavor contravened 2nd tier state secrets laws by taking photos of Chinese military installations and equiment and sending them to Kovrig.
Being still a Canadian, I can't help but think that these two men are largely innocent, but then again it is very much like the US and Canada entered into a dark
conspiracy to abduct China's "Helen of Troy" and forced China to take reciprocal action. She's not just the CFO of Huawei but also the founder's daughter, and
a respected figure in China in her own right. So it's been a very tragic situation. The two Michaels are in solitary confinement, and though Ms. Meng is only
under house arrest in her Vancouver mansion, if she is extradited to the US, the Americans will likely jail her. This conflict should have been settled long ago
with the return of all three to their respective countries. Instead it's a volatile situation, the effects of which will be felt even it is peacefully resolved.
At the root of this conflict lies the blindness of self-righteous, anglophone, ethnocentric jingoism, and the fact that Canadians willingly assumed the role of
Trump administration lackies. The only consolation for Canada is that Trump would have punished Canada during the NAFTA trade renegotiations, had they not
served as his lackies. However, this type of spinelessness is what's destroying democracy and hastening the fall of western society.
(Update: September 25 2021 - Finally, all three are returned home, but would Ms. Meng have been released had the 2 Canadians not been detained? I doubt it.)
China Global Times - US Makes Fools of Canada by Dropping All Meng Wenzhou Charges
US Drops All Charges Against Meng Wenzhou - CTV Dec 2022
(Update: November 25 2023 - And now Michael Spavor is suing the Canadian government for duping him into inadvertently spying on China by providing intelligence to Michael Kovrig , who passed on the information to Canadian officials.
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