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To: ccryder who wrote (3895)	7/4/1998 1:11:00 PM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

Assuming of course that anyone in China actually saw it other than those in the hall where it happened. JLA

To: ccryder who wrote (3895)	7/4/1998 3:40:00 PM
From: Dragonfly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

The live debate on TV was a surprise until I realized how well it fits with Chinese culture. The exchange of criticism on TV was a sign of respect and cooperation that US citizens by and large do not understand. Mao created a tradition of holding no sacred cows and if one solution does not work find another. His successors are less diligent at this, but better than our leaders. (The drug "war" for instance is clearly not working, but we continue to pour money into it.) Somewhere after the "Great Leap Forward" China learned that the only way to become an modern industrial nation was with external trade and capitalism. Taking criticism on Television in this debate shows the extent to which we are a respected trading partner... and at the same time provides a forum for debate of the ideals of democracy to which the current leadership and the nations people as a whole can be party. There is a great conspiracy in China to move to a more democratic governorship. The "era" of communist rule is progress from the previous era of dynastic rule, and while it has not turned out to be the nirvanna the early revolutionaries hoped it would be, you cannot instantly change the political system the size of china without huge bloodshed. The discussion on Television is the frankest, openest , discussion of democractic ideals and US perspective that has occured in china since Teinamen. The fact that so many hundreds of millions of chinese got to participate in it, and that is was sanctioned by the leadership, makes it more significant, in terms of real change, than tienamen. I don't expect the "rightests" as doug so skillfully called them, to ever understand this-- after all they grew up with a cold war and someone they could hate. That's been taken away, and they are casting about for someone else to hate. No surprise they would see china not for what it is, but for a replacement for their beloved enemy the soviet union. While the debate may not have moved our stock, history books will remember it, and this trip, very favorably. Dragonfly