G'day all - Larry, Lawrence [another Larry <g>] can speak better, especially for himself, but here is my take...
If the current crop of Chinese leaders understand history at all, yes, there can be a good correlation [not cause-and-effect] between prosperity and liberalization [democracy is a new term for the Chinese until the turn of the century.] In a way, the many dynasties have gone through the many format of taxation systems, albeit they were agricultural based. One such system was called the "Nine Square System" [imagine #] the outer parcels were owned by individual farming families while the center parcel was tended by all eight families as a means of taxation. This system occurs in one of the 2 flowering dynasties. Obviously, given the confucian indoctrination, the peasants did not have similar kind of freedom modern people in many democratic countries enjoy today, but it was freedom from hunger, from excessive oppression and from excessive taxation. It was contention and freedom to excel.
You sez, "... Economic reforms were well in place under Deng." Maybe it is better stated "... Corruptions were well in place under Deng." <vbg>
Hong Kong has begun its corruption cleansing campaign since the early 70s. It took them a couple of decades to make it palatable. Having said that, I doubt too many people would object to the spirit of your posts, which, as I interpret them, in effect say China is still a long way to make amend. I do not dispute that. My questions are 1) how much time and 2) what approach to take. And, regardless, the China issues have very little to do with whether people here should mix partisan politics with diplomacy, and whether we should give up the american ideals as stated in the Constitution by parading Wen Ho Lee with insinuation but not with actual accusation. In that case, human right violation can be easily flipped!
Btw, this is from the horse's mouth...
usatoday.com
Of course, Zhu is a politician, so his words are no better than other politicians <sg>
best, Bosco |
