We’ve won
I’m tired of all this handwringing over China. Really, I am. I’m tired about the bitching about their human rights record, about Democracy, about free trade and trade standards.
We’ve won. Western values have won. Capitalism has won. The Chinese are turning their massive ship of state and culture towards the American way. They’re steadily liberalizing. Their citizenry is starting to demand rights as they enter the middle class. Their median wage keeps rising, and will eventually equal that of the United States. Their manufacturing sector is becoming smarter and more sophisticated. They’re starting to design and build planes.
All of Asia, in fact, is moving in this direction. So is Russia.
Within our lifetimes — or, at the very least, our children’s lifetimes — the East will be as the West. We’ll all be competing on an equal playing field, and more people will be living in Western-style freedom than not.
The crackdowns on dissidents and Tibet are just bumps along this inevitable progression towards Western-style liberalism.
Instead of worrying about China we should be worrying about resource wars. About peak oil. About water supplies. About food supplies. These are the issues that will make or break world peace and prosperity over the course of the next decades.
If the neocons were really serious about building Pax Americana they should have taken it upon themselves to build massive desalinisation plants along with water, sanitation and electricity infrastructure in Africa. Instead we’re giving Africa to China, wrapped in a bow.
Why am I worried about giving Africa to China if they’re going to be just like the West in a couple genrations? Because we’re going to be competing on a relatively level playing field… and we can’t afford to cede crucial economic and political ground to our new coopetition.
