One question.. How old is the primary leadership of China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan?
Just old. But amazingly enough, I saw Deng welcoming foreign Asian businessmen in open arms some 15 years ago, and they looked pretty friendly.
But more important to the equation is the willingness of the old guard leadership in all of these countries to relinquish fully the reins of power to the younger, more reform minded folks who don't bear all the negative baggage of history.
Young people tend to party, ignore history, and focus on the future, while old folks know the lessons from history well and all kinds of warfare. Basically, you have to be old enough to know all the moment of truth that ultimately would haunt the unprepared youth ahead. But I guess you are pretty old and experiencd. :O)
you shouldn't be complaining so much.
I'm not complaining, but just don't like to hear it is about the legacy of someone and glorifying the ugly facts of the past and what they did to other people. How would you feel if someone steal a valuable relic of yours and later on auction back to you ?
After all, just look what Mao Tse-Tung did for China... left them bankrupt and an economic backwater for decades until Deng finally opened up the country (just a bit, mind you) to western trade.
Mao let down his own people by encouraging baby boom. That's the one important mistake he made. Deng's determination to open up the southern China is one reason why I don't see the recent govt is as communist as the ones before Deng's era. I think the current leaders or would-be leaders are pretty much loyal to Deng's ideology.
Just ponder how differently China would have developed under Chang Kai-Shek. Look how well Taiwan performed, after all.
KMT in Taiwan was once as corrupt as PRC. But we should always think of Taiwanese as islanders. You should know better how these island nations do, in the face of resource shortages and population boom that threaten their own economies. Islanders mean to expand and grow since the Industrial Age, unlike the people in continents who would care less abroad other than their own affairs. Generally, if they are not forced to perform, they just don't perform. Very simple. And there's a sense of urgency in the culture of Taiwan. You should know better if you work in a high-tech Taiwanese company.
regards,
Q |
