This bears repeating:
A lot of brains over there to pick amongst for your elite national security programs. Far better for us to make them think they can live very well with us....
I've spent a couple years working in an organization that was staffed mostly with chinese and taiwanese nationals. This was in the USA. I think the idea that the US is somehow holding out high technology from china is a foolish pipedream. The Chinese education and scientific communities, while not as well funded, are definately first rate. I've worked with them on projects at the cutting edge of science and technology. Interestingly, this R & D was funded in a large part by the Department of Defense.
The reality is that as the world advances in both science and technology, China is increasingly becomming one of the great contributers to the pool of understanding. At the same time, only thru trade will we be able to foster the transition to democracy that china has been going thru. And, lets not make a mistake, china is turning into at capitalism, and has clearly taken steps toward democracy. While changing the direction of a society consisting of billions of people takes time, we should not miss the serious changes that have occured. The establishment's reaction to Tienamen square was the lashing out of an organization that knows what the inevitable is, but couldn't handle it when things happened too fast. The history of modern china includes at least a half dozen major pro-democracy movements, each one more successful than the last.
What the great leaders of our country, including Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, realize about China is this: China knows the consequences of a nuclear war. China knows the power and danger of having such a large population. China knows that only thru trade with the west can it reach the levels of efficiency to feed, clothe and raise the standard of living of its people. And, finally, given the cultural framework and traditions of the chinese people, China is moving toward a capitalism and a democracy. Even if its not as fast as we and Chinese students would like.
Someone in the Republican party has to realize how they have undermined their own goals with yesterday's legislation.
Somehow, this became a post that belongs on the politics board. I'll copy it there, and if you want to flame me, maybe we should do it there.
Dragonfly |
