China’s true color
PerryScope
By Perry Diaz
Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong used to say, “Power comes from the barrel of a gun.”
It was true in his lifetime, and it was true during the reformist
period of Deng Xiaoping. It was true during the tiger economy surge
under Jiang Zemin. It was true during the globalization era of Hu
Jintao. And it would be true in the era of Xi Jinping, China’s new
ruler. And no matter how much China tries to promote “soft power” in an
attempt to co-exist peacefully and harmoniously with the rest of the
world, China is still the bully that is systematically slicing the
Western Pacific like salami… piece by piece.
Mao laid out China’s global goal in no uncertain terms. “We must conquer the globe where we will create a powerful state,” he said. Indeed, China today has territorial claims in nearly 20 countries, which include the following: Burma, Laos, Northern India, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Ryukyu Islands, 300 islands of the South China, East China and Yellow Seas, as well as Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Taiwan, South Kazakhstan, the Afghan province of Bahdashan, Transbaikalia and the Far East to South Okhotsk (Source: Pravda, July 17, 2012). According to Mao, these territories were lost after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. He dreamed of retaking them but didn’t live long enough to see it happen.
And as China grows stronger economically and militarily, her voracious appetite for grabbing her neighbors’ land and waters, including the East China Sea and South China Sea, has put the Asia-Pacific region – nay, the world – closer to another senseless conflict.
Territorial disputes
In my article, “Trouble spots in Western Pacific waters” (October 5, 2012), I wrote: “On
July 24, 2012, in her boldest move to date, China established a
prefecture-level government in Sansha City located in Woody Island,
which will administer all of the Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, and
Macclesfield Bank. Woody Island — which was uninhabited when China
forcibly took it from Vietnam 38 years ago — is now populated with more
than 1,000 Chinese civilians with roads, a bank, a post office, a
supermarket, and a hospital. Interestingly, Sansha is the smallest
prefecture-level city by both population and land area (13 square
kilometers or five square miles) but the largest by water area with two
million square kilometers (772,000 square miles). In addition to the
city government, China is also going to establish a military garrison in
Sansha to protect her territory and sovereignty over the entire South
China Sea.
“With the establishment of the prefecture of Sansha, China achieved what she wanted without firing a shot: the entire South China Sea! Vietnam and the Philippines immediately protested China’s action. In response, China warned them against meddling in her internal affairs.
“What’s China’s next move in the South China Sea?”
Shock and awe
On September 22, 2012, at the opening of a trade fair for the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Nanning in southern China, then Vice President Xi said in his keynote speech that China’s own prosperity could only be guaranteed by having good relations with China’s neighbors. “The more progress China makes in development and the closer its links with the region and the world, the more important it is for the country to have a stable regional environment and a peaceful international environment,” he said. That’s well and good.
But he also told the ASEAN leaders: “We are firm in safeguarding China’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and are committed to resolving differences with neighbors concerning territorial land, territorial sea and maritime rights and interests peacefully through friendly negotiations.” It sounds like doubletalk to me. How can one negotiate with someone who already has a firm stand and is unwilling to compromise? It seems that his message was more like, “Let’s agree on my terms.”
By mid-November, when Xi took over the post of Secretary General of China’s Communist Party and concurrently Chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission, things began to happen.
On November 28, China Daily reported that China’s island province of Hainan had empowered its border patrol police to “board or seize foreign ships that illegally enter its waters, or order these ships to change course or stop sailing.”
The new regulation prohibits six illegal activities such as entering the province’s waters without permission, damaging coastal defense facilities, and carrying out publicity campaigns, which threatens the country’s security.
And here is the stinger: The regulation also emphasizes that the “border police should strengthen the patrol of the waters off Sansha city and coordinate activities with the routine patrols of the South China Sea to protect the country’s maritime interests.”
The regulation will take effect on January 1, 2013.
China Dream
The next day, November 29, Xi and the six other members of the
Standing Committee of the Communist Party Central Committee Political
Bureau (Politburo) — China’s highest political body that rules the
country – visited the “Road toward Renewal” exhibition at the National
Museum of China, which features Chinese history since the First Opium
War in 1840-42.
Speaking before the officials gathered at the event, Xi told his comrades to keep in mind that “the path decides the destiny” and he indicated how difficult it is to choose the “right road.” But he reminded them that they have to continue taking that road, “unswervingly.”
Then he talked about the “China Dream,” saying: “In my view, to realize the great renewal of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream for the Chinese nation in modern history.” “We, this generation of Communists, must take what has been left to us by our predecessors as a departure for forging ahead into the future,” he said.
And while he emphasized Deng Xiaoping’s revisionist brand of communism – “socialism with Chinese characteristics” — Xi tried to reconnect with the Maoist old guard by quoting Mao, “But man’s world is mutable, seas become mulberry fields.” It seems like he’s blending his own ideological brand – a mixture of Maoism and Deng’s revisionism.
He concluded his speech by saying: “I believe that by the time when the Communist Party of China marks its 100th founding anniversary (2020), the goal to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects will be inevitably achieved.”
Xi’s metaphor is easily understood, which doesn’t leave any ambiguity on what’s in his mind. Makes one wonder if the event was stage-managed for the whole world to see what he intends to do during his 10-year reign.
True color
Xi laid out his master plan of what he’d accomplish by 2020; that is, a world superpower. He didn’t waste any time in consolidating his political power at home and at the same set in motion the steps necessary to take full and exclusive control of the East and South China Seas… and beyond.
But for every action there is always reaction. The question is: How would China’s neighbors react and would they appease her just like what the European nations did to Germany 74 years ago?
In the final analysis, Xi’s dream of China becoming a world superpower could bring the specter of another Cold War… or worse, a shooting war.
Indeed, China is now showing her true color… that is, bloody red!
(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)
By Perry Diaz
Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong used to say, “Power comes from the barrel of a gun.”
It was true in his lifetime, and it was true during the reformist
period of Deng Xiaoping. It was true during the tiger economy surge
under Jiang Zemin. It was true during the globalization era of Hu
Jintao. And it would be true in the era of Xi Jinping, China’s new
ruler. And no matter how much China tries to promote “soft power” in an
attempt to co-exist peacefully and harmoniously with the rest of the
world, China is still the bully that is systematically slicing the
Western Pacific like salami… piece by piece.Mao laid out China’s global goal in no uncertain terms. “We must conquer the globe where we will create a powerful state,” he said. Indeed, China today has territorial claims in nearly 20 countries, which include the following: Burma, Laos, Northern India, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Ryukyu Islands, 300 islands of the South China, East China and Yellow Seas, as well as Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Taiwan, South Kazakhstan, the Afghan province of Bahdashan, Transbaikalia and the Far East to South Okhotsk (Source: Pravda, July 17, 2012). According to Mao, these territories were lost after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. He dreamed of retaking them but didn’t live long enough to see it happen.
And as China grows stronger economically and militarily, her voracious appetite for grabbing her neighbors’ land and waters, including the East China Sea and South China Sea, has put the Asia-Pacific region – nay, the world – closer to another senseless conflict.
Territorial disputes
In my article, “Trouble spots in Western Pacific waters” (October 5, 2012), I wrote: “On
July 24, 2012, in her boldest move to date, China established a
prefecture-level government in Sansha City located in Woody Island,
which will administer all of the Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, and
Macclesfield Bank. Woody Island — which was uninhabited when China
forcibly took it from Vietnam 38 years ago — is now populated with more
than 1,000 Chinese civilians with roads, a bank, a post office, a
supermarket, and a hospital. Interestingly, Sansha is the smallest
prefecture-level city by both population and land area (13 square
kilometers or five square miles) but the largest by water area with two
million square kilometers (772,000 square miles). In addition to the
city government, China is also going to establish a military garrison in
Sansha to protect her territory and sovereignty over the entire South
China Sea.“With the establishment of the prefecture of Sansha, China achieved what she wanted without firing a shot: the entire South China Sea! Vietnam and the Philippines immediately protested China’s action. In response, China warned them against meddling in her internal affairs.
“What’s China’s next move in the South China Sea?”
Shock and awe
On September 22, 2012, at the opening of a trade fair for the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Nanning in southern China, then Vice President Xi said in his keynote speech that China’s own prosperity could only be guaranteed by having good relations with China’s neighbors. “The more progress China makes in development and the closer its links with the region and the world, the more important it is for the country to have a stable regional environment and a peaceful international environment,” he said. That’s well and good.
But he also told the ASEAN leaders: “We are firm in safeguarding China’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and are committed to resolving differences with neighbors concerning territorial land, territorial sea and maritime rights and interests peacefully through friendly negotiations.” It sounds like doubletalk to me. How can one negotiate with someone who already has a firm stand and is unwilling to compromise? It seems that his message was more like, “Let’s agree on my terms.”
By mid-November, when Xi took over the post of Secretary General of China’s Communist Party and concurrently Chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission, things began to happen.
On November 28, China Daily reported that China’s island province of Hainan had empowered its border patrol police to “board or seize foreign ships that illegally enter its waters, or order these ships to change course or stop sailing.”
The new regulation prohibits six illegal activities such as entering the province’s waters without permission, damaging coastal defense facilities, and carrying out publicity campaigns, which threatens the country’s security.
And here is the stinger: The regulation also emphasizes that the “border police should strengthen the patrol of the waters off Sansha city and coordinate activities with the routine patrols of the South China Sea to protect the country’s maritime interests.”
The regulation will take effect on January 1, 2013.
China Dream
Xi
Jinping and the six other members of the Standing Committee of the
Politburo at the “Road toward Renewal” exhibition at the National Museum
of China.
Speaking before the officials gathered at the event, Xi told his comrades to keep in mind that “the path decides the destiny” and he indicated how difficult it is to choose the “right road.” But he reminded them that they have to continue taking that road, “unswervingly.”
Then he talked about the “China Dream,” saying: “In my view, to realize the great renewal of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream for the Chinese nation in modern history.” “We, this generation of Communists, must take what has been left to us by our predecessors as a departure for forging ahead into the future,” he said.
And while he emphasized Deng Xiaoping’s revisionist brand of communism – “socialism with Chinese characteristics” — Xi tried to reconnect with the Maoist old guard by quoting Mao, “But man’s world is mutable, seas become mulberry fields.” It seems like he’s blending his own ideological brand – a mixture of Maoism and Deng’s revisionism.
He concluded his speech by saying: “I believe that by the time when the Communist Party of China marks its 100th founding anniversary (2020), the goal to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects will be inevitably achieved.”
Xi’s metaphor is easily understood, which doesn’t leave any ambiguity on what’s in his mind. Makes one wonder if the event was stage-managed for the whole world to see what he intends to do during his 10-year reign.
True color
Xi laid out his master plan of what he’d accomplish by 2020; that is, a world superpower. He didn’t waste any time in consolidating his political power at home and at the same set in motion the steps necessary to take full and exclusive control of the East and South China Seas… and beyond.
But for every action there is always reaction. The question is: How would China’s neighbors react and would they appease her just like what the European nations did to Germany 74 years ago?
In the final analysis, Xi’s dream of China becoming a world superpower could bring the specter of another Cold War… or worse, a shooting war.
Indeed, China is now showing her true color… that is, bloody red!
(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)
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