Yiwu,
Thank you for the for your extended response. I do appreciate it.
Yes, I know that China and N. Korea don't get along. But business is business and there has been ongoing trade between the two nations for decades. I also realize that while Bejing has cut off certain military ties with the US, negotiations over N. Korea is still an area in which we currently (knock on wood) have cooperation because both nations have vital interests in not permitting Kim Il-Jong from obtaining nuclear capacity.
And yes it was an idiotic mistake to send tanks into the square. But there were some generals who were on the sides of the students and were close to sending in their own forces to prevent the massacre. They deferred in order to avoid complete civil war from breaking out. (as it was told to me).
Yiwu, utter chaos which leads to violence is not condonable. But liberty derives from a certain balance of chaos and order. There has to be respect for an individual's right to self-determination, while securing the integrity of another person's right to safety and order.
Ultimately order must be maintained by the cultural values of the people, and not the government. Unless there is a certain element of chaos from the people who are not politically empowered, those who hold ultimate power in your society will never completely give it up. this was the case in Russia, and very well may be the case in Bejing.
The lesson that our founding father's taught us when writing the constitution of the United States is, "those who sacrifice liberty to gain security, deserve neither".
That is why, even with maniac teen-agers blasting their schoolmates with illegally obtained weapons, we still have to defend the 2nd amendment's right to bear arms. An American's right to bear arms guarantees his individual liberty in that no gov't can gain such an abilty to intimidate its population that liberty is sacrificed.
As for China minding its own international business, I would suggest that Bejing plays dirty tricks of its own. But the result of those dirty tricks are societies that are less free, not more free. In the America's it took some time to accomplish, but we face a situation where the only dictatorship that remains is in Cuba. The others may still be infant democracies, but there is some expression of popular will expressed. Some cultures take longer to assimilate democracy than others.
I would suggest that the current selective news blackout over the events in the Balkans has led many Chinese to mis-interpret NATO's actions there, while covering up the support that Bejing and Moscow were providing Belgrade. China and Russian BOTH blocked security resolutions against Serbia's oppression in Kosovo without offering any alternative resolution. They knew that a Balkan conflict would embroil NATO in a political and military quagmire and they were all too willing to permit it to happen.
If China ever wishes to achieve its proper role as a major world power, they have to understand that they have a responsibilty for supporting peace efforts and democractic initiatives around the globe. That is, unless Bejing is only paying lip serve to its intentions to democratize your country.
Regards,
Ron |
