To all: Behind the news, however good or bad, are a Chinese people that want very badly to participate. They see and know what is going on about them. They want to get into the game. They are straining at the leash to compete with the remainder of the industrialized world.
Think Japan a dynamo? Watch China.
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Also, in recent news...
1) Last week Taipei stated they are prepared to assist the mainland in reforming state-owned enterprises.
2) The new and cordial relationship between Beijing and Amsterdam is more telling than many may know. The Netherlands is, and has been for many years, a bastion of the Western power structure. Not unlike the British, but much less visibly, the Dutch still command heavy influence in global affairs. The re-making of this relationship indicates to me that China is co-operating with the world power elite and, hence, the international banking community. This will ensure the continuation of foreign capital flow to the middle kingdom, and most probably guarantees their WTO acceptance.
3) The 9th National People's Congress is extremely significant. Read about it, if you have time. The 9th NPC is more representative of the Chinese people than any of the prior meetings. It will chart the PRC's course into the next century.
Dr. Swaran Singh, Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (New Delhi).... Whatever be the rhetoric by individual leaders, it is the deliberations in the NPC that actually works as a more reliable barometer of China's plans. It is also the first election to be held under China's modified Election Law of 1995. These elections involved both direct and indirect elections for all big and small legislative bodies throughout the country.
Today, almost all of China's one million villages have held at least one round of election, and some areas have held as many as four to six rounds of direct election. The forthcoming deliberations of China's 9th NPC are most likely to make this NPC an important milestone in the evolution China's future reforms.
Dr. Singh specialises in China's defence and foreign affairs.
4) And, just in case someone hasn't been listening, Beijing stated again last week that they are not devaluating the yuan.
There is much happening. Let's hope they can keep it going.
Tom |
