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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Win Smith who wrote (1006)	9/23/2001 1:21:59 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 281500

China could blow sky high before it's over. They haven't exactly exhibited much interest in political reform of late. Indeed... this is a prime example of the theory that a country must create economic stability for its people before permitting political openess. However, I'm with you in the belief that what we're seeing in China may just be another example of a opportunistic, Stalinist "New Economic Plan", where there is strong encouragement of western investment that is later expropriated and nationalized by the authoritarian/totalitarian rulers of China. This is why I believe WTO admission for China MUST include concrete legal reforms that protect such investment, as well as advancing economic and political rights for the Chinese people. I have a friend who just spent 9 months working in China, about 100 south of Bejing.. He's a very smart fella, but deceptively referred to himself as "American White Trash". He has a hilarious perspective on life and his adventures over in China, as well as some of the heart-touching interactions he experienced with these chinese who he supervised.. For instance, on Sundays, the Americans in his crew would get together and rent out a go-cart race track (that most chinese couldn't afford) and host races at speeds up to 90 MPH... They would start out with just themselves racing around, but within an hour they had hundreds of Chinese watching them and applauding them as they raced. Or the story about a chinese worker who was trying to get a key to fit in a lock but couldn't manage to open it after many attempts. So my friend goes over and tweaks with it and get it open. Well, the Chinese worker was so embarrassed by this loss of face that he quit his job in shame... My buddy had to literally plead with this man, who spoke decent English, by telling him that not being able to open a lock was no big deal... especially in light of the fact that he could speak english while my friend spoke only a few words of Chinese. It's these kinds of interactions between common, but culturally different, people that I find so fascinating... as well as forming the foundation for common bonds of understanding between cultures. Hawkmoon