By Godfree Roberts – selected from his extensive weekly newsletter : Here Comes China
You can get it here: https://www.herecomeschina.com/#subscribe
We start the regular sitrep with Godfree’s new book Why China Leads the World. I’m reading now and will write a book review after working my way through all five parts of this detailed tome. (Amarynth)
To put the World in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the Family in order; to put the Family in order, we must first cultivate our personal lives by setting our hearts right. Confucius
How did China do it?
When I was born it was the world’s poorest nation. In 2010 it rescued the global economy from the Great Financial Crisis and, in 2020, did it again after the Coronavirus Crisis. Soon it will be the world’s richest country. How did that vast country transform itself in one lifetime?
The short answer is ‘planning’: Beijing began preparing for world leadership in 1957 and for a coronavirus epidemic in 2003.
The long answer is the subject of this book. It tells how China hired Americans to democratize their government, engineers to run it, use consensus-building and goal-setting, and base legislation on statistics. Describing such a numbers-driven society requires dozens of charts–six in the first chapter alone–and over five hundred footnotes. It is, in a word, wonky, yet behind the statistics lies a unique civilization, built on principles utterly unlike ours and from which we have much to learn. I have organized its story into five sections:
- Bad China, Good China discusses the China of our media–unstable Bad China filled with resentful slaves who serve bloodthirsty masters–and Good China, whose people claim to be the happiest on earth.
- Talent at the Top introduces the men who invented their ancient culture, the one who reinvented it seventy years ago, and the man who will lead it at least through 2022. They speak to you directly, in extended quotes that reveal human responses to immense challenges.
- Data in the Middle explains how local experiments solve national problems–like poverty–which they call ‘crossing the river by feeling the stones’.
- Democracy at the Bottom explains the Carter Center’s role in their elections and how they apply democracy not only to politics but to money, too.
- Finally, China in the World investigates our image of China: of invisible famines, invisible massacres, invisible oppression, invisible pandemics, and invisible human rights violations. The last chapter also examines its vast military, foreign policy, and goals for the planet.
On to the rest of the selection: We will take a quick look at space, education, new Chinese legal and policy change vis a vis Belt and Road, ownership of enterprises, and Africa.
Space
- China launched the world’s first quantum communications satellite, Mozi/Micius, in 2016 and achieved QKD with two ground stations 2600 km apart. In 2017, a 2,000 km QKD fiber-optic network was completed between Beijing and Shanghai. It now serves 150 banks, power grids, and websites. A global quantum communication network can be constructed once protocols are standardized. Read full article →
- This Spring, China will launch the 22 tonne Tianhe, 50×14 ft. Tianhe Space Station core module. After completion next year the space station will be joined by a co-orbiting, Hubble-class space telescope capable of docking with the CSS for maintenance and repairs. The space station can be expanded from three to six modules. Read full article →
Education
- By 2050 the Elite STEM workforce will be 10x larger than in the US and larger than the rest of the world combined. “Elite” means the top few percentiles in math ability in developed countries (e.g., EU), as measured by PISA at age 15. Read full article $→
Chinese legal and policy changes internally, vis a vis Belt and Road, ownership of enterprises and Africa.
A major effort is underway in China to overhaul its legal and administrative processes. This encompasses all sectors and all activities. Following is just a taste:
- Xi Jinping has integrated CCP organizations into public and private firms, shifted SASAC from “managing enterprises” to “managing capital,” and strengthened government guidance in funds in driving industrial policy. The change in economic and regulatory structure, the control wielded by the CCP, the blending of public and private, and market and planning, marks a new paradigm in China’s development. No other modern leader has placed as much emphasis on improving the overall resiliency of the systems and institutions that underpin national power. Read full article $→
- In every province, either the provincial Party secretary or governor will take on the new role of forest chief, a responsibility that will be duplicated in lower-level governments by June 2022. Forest chiefs are responsible for the preservation of forests and grasslands in their jurisdictions. They will have KPIs like forest coverage and desertification control. Read full article $→
- BASF began construction of the biggest single foreign investment in China and the first to be 100% foreign owned, with no technology transfer. The $10 billion plant will produce engineering plastics and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) for the southern China market and Asia. Read full article →
- People’s Bank of China (PBOC) gave its approval to PayPal’s acquisition of a 70% equity stake in Chinese payments company GoPay, making PayPal the first foreign-invested firm to gain access to the domestic payments sector. Read full article →
- The People’s Congress (NPC) released a draft of the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL, translation here), a major force in the evolving global privacy landscape and a highly consequential regulatory framework for international business. It emphasizes consumer privacy while also prioritizing national security through data localization, cross-border data flow restrictions, and surveillance and law enforcement powers. Read full article $→
- China is using its African connectivity projects, 20% of its projects there, to link its industrial and energy projects in the hinterland to its infrastructure projects along the coastline, as can be seen in the Tanzania rail map, above. China also transfers manufacturing activity there and has invested in 128 industrial projects in Nigeria, 80 in Ethiopia, 77 in South Africa, 48 in Tanzania and 44 in Ghana. This trend will continue in line with rising labor costs in China. Read full article $→
- In Chinese foreign policy tradition, Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited five African nations in the first week of 2021, and two more African nations joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): the Democratic Republic of Congo and Botswana, bringing the number of African countries who are part of the BRI to 46. Wang Yi also visited Nigeria, which has already benefited from its participation in the BRI. Read full article $→
- China has issued a White Paper: “China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era,” which replaces previous announcements and upgrades the entire Foreign Aid Policy by refocusing and renaming it ‘International Development Cooperation’ while also introducing new initiatives. It is the first time China has issued a white paper under the name of “International Development Cooperation” (IDC) instead of “Foreign Aid”. Download the paper here →
This represents but a fraction of what is included in the Here Comes China newsletter. If you want to learn about the Chinese world, get Godfree’s newsletter here: https://www.herecomeschina.com/#subscribe
I select these items as discussion points from a very extensive newsletter. Although our main focus at the blog is to stop Empire’s war on Russia, we have gathered other and more countries that are standing against our current and soon falling single polar empire. Somehow the world is now saying a resounding NO to the concept. China is one of those countries and in addition, we’re watching a different method of construction, policy and management of a very large portion of our world.
This small sitrep in the past has attracted all those that want to either attack China, or say their own say, without having even read the content. Let’s stick somewhat to topic and not trash the place lol.
The latest tech breakthrough is the High-Temperature Superconducting maglev train with a design speed of at least 620kph – as fast as a jetliner. The engineer who built it said that the magnets have superconduction at -196C. But Cao Yuan the Chinese prodigy has produced superconductivity at room temperature. So I think that engineer is trying to mislead the competition.
Anyway, the weird thing is that the train engine was floating on its powerful magnets without electricity. A reporter invited to the demonstration was able to move the 12-tonne locomotive engine with one finger!
The world should celebrate China’s achievements and not fear it because Chinese civilisation has always been self-reliant i.e. had never looked at its neighbours with greed. If China wants something from other countries, it will always try to trade for it or do without.
I love technology and efforts to improve transportation, but, it can get costly and time consuming also.
People have been working on large scale electromagnetic transportation since the sixty’s, and something typically prevents the product from being brought to market even though the physics hasn’t changed since then.
And the thing that I suspect is the relationship between demagnetization and heat, sure one can push with a finger, but during operation heat is going to build up somewhere, and if the magnets components are the one, and they are badly affected, you haven’t built anything except another expensive catastrophe.
Alabama, the maglev trains have been running in China since early 2000 – generally, they quote the speed at about 431 km/h (268 mph) is what I’ve seen. There are a few to my knowledge.
The thing now is the new prototype that is doubling the speed. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3117620/chinese-prototype-shape-maglev-train-tech-come
So, this is working technology for about +10 years already.
Having ridden on the current trains, wow. Very similar to flying in terms of process and seating, and very fast travel with a smooth ride.
Boarding time is very tightly controlled, if you’re at the far end of the train, run!
I don’t see much opportunity for these trains in heavy snow load or large wildlife rich zones like Russia or Northern Canada though.
I think China’s engneers will find ways to keep wildlife well off and away from the tracks.
Also beyond 700 kph or so, the maglev will need to move in a vacuum tube. This will keep out the wildlife and snow.
Like many are saying, the real danger of China is not military, but that every day it’s becoming more obvious that they have the superior system for moving into the future. You can only drown out that truth with a propaganda onslaught for so long. Also, the whole culture of East Asia is built on the collectivism of rice agriculture, codified by Confucius. The West can never have an answer to that since it’s becoming more and more tribalized, ethnically and politically. The neurotic individual is the highest value, a Hobbesian war of everybody against everybody. The greatest mark of success in America is to have an isolated armored house as far from the nearest jungle ghetto as possible.
Also, remember that there are an estimated 300 million underground Christian in China – virtually all of them purified by persecution through the years.
They, I pray, will help keep China humble. This is essential for China’s continuing its progress because, in the final analysis, I believe it is not intelligence that wins the day but the blessing of God the Almighty Creator.
Cult members deserve to be banned just like falun gong.
Strange my wife’s aunt had been a missionary in China for years and never reported any problems, I wonder why that is.!!
Why? God protected her.
How is it that 300 million Christians in the US make it into an arrogant country but 300 million in China will make China humble?
Those in China have undergone the humbling and spiritually purification process of persecution. Those in the US? Not yet.
“How is it that 300 million Christians in the US make it into an arrogant country but 300 million in China will make China humble?”
Quite a paradox, something of a conundrum.
The question is flawed by a basic error of substance.
Which culture, Chinese or American, is more amenable to the Christian ethic?
Were Sodom and Gomorrha populated by 300 million Christians? I think not.
What sort of Christians embrace the “greed is good” philosophy and rampant debauchery at all levels of society? Answer – “christians’ with a small “c”, not really Christians at all.
I think China’s future success will lie in keeping Anglo Zionist expats out. They already seem to be creeping in, claiming to love the motherland making plans for another Wakanda with their wonderful ideology.
Hopefully affirmative action will return to California so that the turtles start returning, and maybe they would be so kind to bring their Asian friends as well.
Most expats in China are here to join their mail-order brides, and then submerge into a quiet double-happiness rice & noodle life.. The hooligans don’t last long..
Pre-pandemic, there were nearly 500,000 foreign english teachers in China, who normally stay 1 or 2 years.. Those expats living long-term are here for business or retirement with their Chinese spouse..
As the Chinese and Asian social model in general displays a civilized harmony which hardly exists in “the west”, most expats are happy to blend in with the program
Ten years ago I wrote this article on the foundations of Chinese culture and civilization;
https://www.veteranstodayarchives.com/2011/12/09/the-incarnations-of-china/
By charting a civilizations rise and historical backdrop, one can predict to a good extent a nations response to crisis. The final paragraph states:
“The philosophical undercurrents of Chinese society has always been reverence to the past, societal duty based on position, and a desire for social harmony. Although fiercely resistant to territorial incursions, the Chinese use force as a last resort. They have a high regard for education, artistic ability, and wisdom. Churchill once said “Beware the sleeping dragon, for when she wakes the earth will shake”. With a society that can be melded together like no other, a leadership style that conveys a long political tenure with a high education, and a cultural philosophy that places non interference in external affairs with a cultural business sense, China is in a strong position to make Churchill’s words prophetic.”
Godfree’s articles certainly show how China is shaking the world and I very much appreciate his attempts to educate people!
Note to moderator – this is in no way a self-promotion.
@JackJC: “The philosophical undercurrents of Chinese society has always been reverence to the past, societal duty based on position, and a desire for social harmony…..They have a high regard for education, artistic ability, and wisdom.”
Sounds like what I gleaned from my reading of Confucius. Years ago, when I was praising Mao and the CCP to a Chinese-American she replied, “Perhaps Mao was a great Leader; but he would not have been effective in Africa because Africa has not been moulded by Confucius.”
@Dr. NG Maroudas,
I think your comment is very true. The Confucian mindset is very alien to people outside of Asia. There is opportunity to understand both eastern and western philosophy and cultural mores but to do that people must be willing to listen more than they talk. Something I don’t see happening with the ‘exceptional’ crowd.
The secret of China’s economic success is that its government creates its domestic currency, the yuan, without going into debt to private banks. Thus China can fund all its government projects by creating money as digital entries on their national bank’s computer, whenever they deem it advantageous and in the national interest to build infrastructure, et cetera. The only reason that China needed to sell consumer products to the US in the past was to accumulate US dollars that they could then exchange for crude oil imports to power its industries. China now has $2.3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, and can import oil from Russia and Iran without the need for US dollars.
Capitalists in the West always look upon money primarily as profit, that they then piss away on needless foreign military interventions. China does not need to make profits, because it creates its own money supply ex nihilo. What is the point of accumulating more money, when it is not needed. By contrast China views money mainly as a means of exchanging goods and putting its own workforce to productive use.
“People’s Bank of China (PBOC) gave its approval to PayPal’s acquisition of a 70% equity stake in Chinese payments company GoPay, making PayPal the first foreign-invested firm to gain access to the domestic payments sector. ”
Was this clever decision at all? Given U.S Empire chance to infiltrate to Chinese finance sector.
A sword can cut in two directions.
PayPal, Wal-Mart, Apple & any other western brand in China are far from being free agents, but are joined by an economic steering committee from the Party..
The trade-off must be worthwhile for those hoping to join the Chinese Century..
Perhaps eddie, you missed the process of ‘opening up’ and the very specific case mentioned of 100% foreign ownership and the biggest single foreign investment.
“BASF began construction of the biggest single foreign investment in China and the first to be 100% foreign owned, with no technology transfer. The $10 billion plant will produce engineering plastics and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) for the southern China market and Asia.”
We have a moving China here. They are adjusting their laws, their methods and their technology as we go and as appropriate.
If you love China so much, you’ll be glad, since the Rockefeller Foundation and the WEF chose to model the rest of the world in their image.
I am living – with interruptions – almost two decades in East Asia and China. While Roberts is right, the picture the West is drawing is intentionally bad propaganda, the picture Roberts is drawing is far from being correct either. You could guess, someone telling you of paradise but refuses to live there is to be distrusted.
I know I won’t convince anyone. But you sure will love the Biden administration, so much in common …
Guest, your comment “If you love China so much, you’ll be glad, since the Rockefeller Foundation and the WEF chose to model the rest of the world in their image.” is uhm, I’m looking for a good word, but the only one that fits is nonsense.
Nobody is talking love and paradise. I think you’ve got it a bit skewed.
America and Europe will be dwarfed.
Africa will wake up and bloom, hopefully their own way. The rest, the remainder, I don t know.
Luck for the liliputians that result from the process , is perhaps that Gulliver hopefully turns out to be as harmless as the original fictional one.
There is always some great truth and goodness about China, its wonderful people, many aspects that are commented on, whenever China comes up as a subject. There is also always strong difference of opinion.
Over the years, the divisiveness mainly arises consistently through one person and is very inhibiting, as it is not simply disagreeing, but claims total authority, and thus prevents a free exchange of ideas. It is also dull and lowers the tone of conversation.
It also demeans the whole process of growth of knowledge and understanding. No one, nobody, has the whole truth, or the right to dictate what other’s must think and learn for themselves. If they are foolish, then let them be. If opinions are thought to be false, then either pass them by, or refute them, simply, objectively, and briefly.
All ideas are fabulous for me, but I distrust the appearance authoritarianism, and cannot think clearly about the ideas and knowledge presented because of this personal relation to them, that carries its own agenda.
I want to think what I want to think about the lands and people of China, thank you.
Suicide prevention nets!
If you want to learn the truth about China and the Chinese miracle begin here:
https://youtu.be/KjQ01J1SQBI
and for any who desire to do business in China – Verstappen surely has some excellent information. He lived in China 4 years and studied the Martial Arts under a famous Master. I doubt very much one can go wrong listening to what he has to say.
https://www.chinastrategies.com/chinese-business-etiquette/
Good to get a picture of the flip side. Gives balance and reminds that there is always an ugly side in every society, especially the somehow marginalised. These cannot be completely be eliminated in the long term.
But the suicide capitals of the world is not in China.
The link to the full article relating to “forest management” is broken, is there a correction ? thanks.