Part 5 - The Dragon has been awakened. Written by : Lim Yu Book

 

How do the rest of the world see China today?

Far away in Africa and Central America, the China and the Chinese they notice or understand come in the form of images of quiet and hardworking technicians who are putting up infrastructures in their towns or running the mines in their outback. The West is saying that the Chinese are there to strip Africa's resources. Yes, the minerals are being mined and stacked at ports waiting for shipment to China. But do the Chinese exploit them like what the colonial powers had done? Remember how King Leopold 11 of Belgium was to the Africans? And the number of slaves that were ended up in America's cotton fields?

Come on, Americans and Europeans, you should not just parrot what your government and armchair journalists said about genocide or forced labour to China! You need to go there you want to know the truth.

Waking up China''''''

Samuel Huntington talks about the looming clash of civilisations ( 2003 ). His argumen, if I remember correctly , is based on the incompatibility that he sees in many aspects of the cultures of the nine distinct civilisations that he has mapped out. I supposed he was more alarmed about the widening of the value gap between the Judah-Christian West and the Islamic world than the rest. That was the prevailing concern then; for Islam was increasingly seen as the new world destabilizing force. The emergence of China was not apparent then.

However, after the ascension of Obama, the pivot was shifted to a rising China. Only two civilisations are in danger of clashes - the Western led by the US and China's.That need to check China became Trump's political capital. And instead of rationalizing the whole need, Biden went on to build on it. He wants to outdo Trump, lest he becomes a one-term president.

The clarion call has been issued. At one corner is the US's brand evangelism, and at the corner is the reluctant China, guided by its Before-Christ, principally Confucian philosophy.

Had Trump and Biden not burned the Dragon's whiskers, China would have been content to just plod on to fulfill its xiao-kang or "moderately comfortable" ambition. From time immemorial, save the century of humiliation in the 1800s to 1900s, China had always been an advanced nation of the time, but it had never wanted to go beyond the Himalayas in its southwest, the Steppes and deserts in its west and north, and the seas in its east. It was an agricultural nation! People have to till the land! It built the Great Wall to deter the constant threat posed by the Mongols and the central Asian tribes. If Chinese had the Western mindset , many parts of Southeast Asia, Australiia and East Africa would have been China's colonies for a long time. The three hundred years after the Ming Dunasty was an aberration in China's nature to better themselves.

Now China realizes it needs more than its formidability in supply-chains to do so. It cannot count on anyone anymore. It has to build its own capabilities in chip-making, advanced jet engines, military and space explorations among others. The US is going all out to choke off China in all these fronts, particularly the chip supplies. But it fails to basically understand this reality: many of the scientists and engineers in chip-making industries, from machines to design to production are ethnically Chinese. Now that China has made up its mind to be self-sufficient in this field , it is only a matter of time this DNA would return to China and help make it the No 1 in this technology.

Ditto on military capabilities. The way the US is rallying its partners to demonstrate their naval power right in front of Chinese doorsteps - all in the name of navigational freedom and "protect" Taiwan - forces China to invest in defence and space capabilities and to strengthen its resolve to take back Taiwan. Had the West and Japan not been encouraging Taiwan to go independent, China would have been happy to allow Taiwan to prosper under the one- country-two systems arrangements. And Hong Kong would not have to pass those laws to ward off western hypocrisy.

America is seeing a Chinese ghost everywhere it goes. It is gripped by hallucinations. And this has made its policy totally incoherent. So far only Canada, the UK, Japan, Australia and some minion countries in Europe are happy to become America's blood brothers. Much of the rest of the world is paying lip service. They simply must think where the food on the family table is going to come from.

Whereas Trump's focus was on trade and technology, Biden's is all out blockades. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is like an ant on a hot plate - right behind Wang Yi everywhere the latter went. But he is not achieving much of what Biden has asked. Wendy Sherman looked ill at ease in China, despite her formidable reputation. Llyod Austin looks as clumsy , he simply does not know the protocols. A case in point is their visit to the ASEAN countries. There is a cultural wisdom in these countries, having lived side by side with China for hundreds of years . America has never paid much attention to them, and now they are trying to woo them to its cause or mission. These countries have millions of people of Chinese decent in their midst. They are loyal to their respective countries , but many are also proud of the civilization they belong to. And they know, only a strong China can help them to stand tall. And the silliest of all America's diplomatic attempts - to try to influence Russia to go against China. Vladimir Putin easily puts Biden into his pocket! Putin is a leader extraordinaire. He is made of solid steel! 

The US is a country that is deeply divided - between Democrats and Republicans, between races, and between extreme wealth and abject poverty. Its very foundation is indeed at risk of crumbling. Its cities and infrastructures are decaying. Its finances are in deep sinkholes. An important pillar of economy namely Chinese talents is having second thoughts about their future in America. A pandemic is still ravaging. Yet, it keeps looking back to whack China, just because it is pacing behind in the run.