Hi Darleen Shurgot; Re: " The greatest fear about Falun Gong was i feel the realization that China was changing and a totally free democratic China could very well be in the offing. China had lost ability to control."
One of the things that those of us in the U.S. tend to forget is that we are what the whole world aspires to be. Economically rich, militarily powerful, healthy, educated, and free. While there is a strong tendency nowadays to impugn the motives of unelected leaders, (as well as the motives of elected leaders, now that I think about it), I tend to disagree, in that I think there are unelected leaders who genuinely want their country to be powerful and free. In other words, George Washington was not a phenomenon unique to the colonies. But since we in the U.S. tend to concentrate only on our own history, we miss seeing the Attaturks (for instance) of other countries.
But the problem is that there is no button that the Chinese leadership can press to turn their country into a modern industrial democracy. The students at Tianamen square believed that there does exist such a button, but since no country has ever pressed it, one doubts that it exists. Instead, every country that grew into a robust industrial democracy did it the hard way, through years of economic growth.
The Chinese have the hard example of the Soviet Union to teach them the consequences of too quick change. That China may seem schizophrenic with their own policy is understandable. The country is changing at a rate that is almost unheard of.
I can imagine what the Chinese leadership heard from their military about the spy plane. The surviving fighter pilot undoubtedly told them that he saw the U.S. aircraft bank sharply, and his buddy's plane fell into pieces in the sea. Emotions are running hard, now is the time to be understanding, and to pour oil on water, but not to light it.
-- Carl
P.S. I'm going to do a quick internet search on what boundaries the U.S. claims for its air traffic control. |
