Selections from Godfree Roberts’ extensive weekly newsletter: Here Comes China. You can get it here: https://www.herecomeschina.com/#subscribe

Further selections and editorial and geopolitical commentary by Amarynth.


America outperforms the Great Chinese Firewall.

We know now why China has the Great Chinese Firewall.  It is like a gated community to keep western plunderers out.  Its that simple.  Daniel Dumbrill comments on the seizing of Iranian domains vis a vis the Great Chinese Firewall.  Btw, at the end of the video (and it is not too long, 16 mins), there is a speech from a House Intelligence Committee meeting circa 1975.  Stay and listen to that clip and you will understand why the US media specifically, and their followers, are all singing from the same hymnal.


All eyes on Space, where three taikonauts moved into their new space home to stay for three months.   This is excellent news in the year that China celebrates the 100 year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.  It is surprising that in western climes, the CCP or the CPC is the word used to indicate the Government of China.  Seemingly in the west, China does not have a Government or a Politburo or any leadership.  They only have a CCP and this triggers the ‘communist’ word.

During this year, China, in my experience, has changed its media coverage.  About three years ago at the height of the Trump Trade War, I saw their media coverage change, and they started hitting back at the propaganda media about China.  This gave rise to the description ‘Wolf Warrior Diplomacy’.

We’ve had another change and this comes from the idea that they think they are losing the media wars.  So, as we see so often, if you put an impediment in front of China, they find some way to go around that impediment.  In the media wars, they are distributing the most excellent information that one could wish for.  This is new for China as they have always been reticent in talking about themselves.

I am referring to publications such as the following that attempt (and do a good job at it) to explain China to the world.

  • Decoding the CPC’s secret recipe for an economic miracle

As China gears up to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on July 1, one of the greatest achievements of the CPC to be highlighted is what has been widely described as an economic miracle. From a backward agrarian economy in the early days of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to an economic and technological powerhouse today, China’s economic success story under the CPC’s leadership has arguably become the global story of the century and the envy of the world.

The secret codes behind such miraculous achievements have also become a hotly debated topic around the world. This article will decode those codes.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227089.shtml

  • The practice of the CPC in respecting and protecting human rights

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227065.shtml

Whereas this is a sitrep and not an analysis, those interested should take a look at how the Chinese Government functions.  They call their system of governance a Unique Political Creation.  Talking about China, people get themselves knotted into descriptions of ‘communism’ and ‘capitalism’.  The simple answer is:  It is different dude!  It is unique!  You ‘aint never seen something like this before. 

Did you know that:

In the early years of the Republic of China (1912-1949), China adopted the Western parliamentary party system. From 1912, when the first cabinet was established, to 1928, the head of state was replaced 10 times and the prime minister 59 times, and the cabinet was reshuffled 45 times. The longest term of office was less than one year, while the shortest was less than one day. In addition, there were five parliaments and seven constitutions. The frequent changes of presidency, cabinet, parliament and constitution caused enormous social unrest.

The Western parliamentary party system did not suit the Chinese People.  As we see now in Russia, it does not really suit the Russians either.  Governance must first be from the people, and despite the anti-China propaganda campaign, this exists from grassroots level in China.  And if we start from there, this may be our first hint as to how the Saker’s Zone A and Zone B shake out in reality.   But this would be another essay.

From this link you will find a downloadable document titled:  China’s Political Party System: Cooperation and Consultation. This describes clearly how the People’s Republic of China eventually was constituted, as well as the changes along the way.  The main difference is that the people themselves find that they can existentially better operate in a social group cohesion.  The proverbial lone cowboy or operator that goes off the save the world is not only rejected but is looked at askance.  The operative words are ‘cooperation and consultation’.   The ideological pillars are pragmatic:

  • The system embodies the interests of the widest range of social groups.
  • The system reflects the shared goals of all.
  • The system promotes sound decision-making and implementation.
  • The system ensures effective state governance.

“China’s political party system is the result of a historical process. It is a structure of enormous strength, creativity and vitality. It embodies the essence of Chinese traditions; it reflects the intrinsic requirements of socialism; it conforms to China’s realities and its needs in state governance. As a basic component of China’s political system, it contributes to China’s development, national rejuvenation, and social progress, and is of great benefit to the people’s wellbeing.

Over the past seven decades and more, this system has grown and matured. It provides Chinese ideas to the world in terms of modern party politics, and offers a new model for global political progress. China will, as always, learn and draw from the positive experiences of other countries, but will not imitate other political party systems mechanically, or impose its own on any other country. China respects the right of other countries to choose a political party system best adapted to their own realities. Based on equality and mutual respect, China is willing to strengthen cooperation and mutual learning with other countries, promote democracy on the international stage, and eventually build a global community of shared future.”

So, from this departure point, we return to space.  The buildout, roll-out and eventual moving into the new Chinese space station reads like a fairy tale.  They did not make errors or if they did, they corrected them forthwith.  Mind, this is not your granny’s space station and more development and platforming is planned to act as a base to research and investigate space.  We will see in future investigative and research space probes will leave from this space station.

Here  is a fairly mundane (but fairly correct) overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong_space_station

The real story lies in the joy of the people and you can find more of this here.  This salute is the equivalent of ‘one step for man, one giant step for mankind’.  https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1226392.shtml

TASS added their voice to the general jubilation with reporting on a televised chat between the three taikonauts and Xi Jinping.

“Building a space station is an important milestone for China’s spaceflight cause,” Xi said in the televised chat.

“This will be a contribution that opens new horizons for humanity’s peaceful use of space. You are the representatives of countless fighters in the new era of China’s spaceflight cause,” he said.

https://tass.com/press-releases/1306743

There are more space initiatives planned.  There is a new Russian/Chinese space station on the drawing board and a number of launches of various kinds as well as a base on the moon.

China and Russia to launch 6 lunar missions in 2021-2025 to build international Moon base –  The missions will use Chinese CZ-3B and CZ-5 launch vehicles, as well as Russia’s Soyuz-2

A small but very interesting factoid is that the language of space will be Mandarin, or Standard Chinese.  If you are an astronaut or a cosmonaut and want to visit Tiangong or Heavenly Palace, you will first need to learn the language.


I saw a comment from one of the readers of The Saker blog, to the idea that The Saker is a serious blog, and perhaps we cannot describe things humorously.  To the contrary, we have a lively sense of humor and I borrow this cryptic cartoon from the China Daily Publication.


Onward to a few data points.

First, Xinjiang … and now we can clearly perceive why the extreme attempt at seeding this Uyghur province with ‘oh so friendly terrorists’.

China is fighting back against the Xinjiang propaganda.  Highly automated industries in Xinjiang shatter Western “forced labor” lie

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227052.shtml

But the real reason?  It’s the oil, baby!  This has been known in the Chinese watcher gossip-sphere for some time, but now the news is out:   1-billion-ton oil and gas field discovered in Xinjiang’s Tarim Basin

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1226540.shtml

China will not share its oil with a bunch of wealth extractive oil companies.  Russia has sufficient knowledge to assist with the oil industry.  That is the reason for the literal attempts at color revolution in Xinjiang.  (For those that watch, there are new fields discovered in the South China Seas as well.)


Next up, SpinachChina grows 92% of the world’s spinach, 88% of its asparagus, 81% of its green beans, and 80% of its cucumbers. Glass greenhouse acreage grew 28% in 2020. Built within city limits to reduce distance to buyers, they sell directly to e-commerce platforms and supermarkets and bypass middlemen.  (Even Reuters cannot any longer hide these numbers https://www.reuters.com/world/the-great-reboot/modern-farming-coronavirus-outbreak-spurs-high-tech-greenhouse-boom-china-2021-06-04/)


As we’ve come to +1,600 words, and the guidance for a Saker Site Sitrep is around 1,000, I will dispense with the longer read for this piece.  But do remember this is but a fraction of what I gleaned from the Here Comes China newsletter.  Godfree has some delicious longer reads in his newsletter:   https://www.herecomeschina.com/#subscribe

I also want to mention Jeff J. Brown, who tackles the insane propaganda from another perspective, the one of Huawei being the perfect allegory for why the West’s desperate efforts to destroy the Chinese nation are doomed to fail.