This comment was chosen by moderator SA from the post “Weekly China Newsbrief and Sitrep”.
I’m from Malaysia. China has traded with Malaysia for 2000 years. In those years, they had been the world’s biggest powers many times. Never once they sent troops to take our land. Admiral Zhenghe came to Malacca five times, in gigantic fleets, and a flagship eight times the size of Christopher Columbus’ flagship, Santa Maria. He could have seized Malacca easily, but he did not. In 1511, the Portuguese came. In 1642, the Dutch came. In the 18th century the British came. We were colonised by each, one after another.
When China wanted spices from India, they traded with the Indians. When they wanted gems, they traded with the Persian. They didn’t take lands. The only time China expanded beyond their current borders was in Yuan Dynasty, when Genghis and his descendants Ogedei Khan, Guyuk Khan & Kublai Khan concurred China, Mid Asia and Eastern Europe. But Yuan Dynasty, although being based in China, was a part of the Mongolian Empire.
Then came the Century of Humiliation. Britain smuggled opium into China to dope the population, a strategy to turn the trade deficit around, after the British could not find enough silver to pay the Qing Dynasty in their tea and porcelain trades. After the opium warehouses were burned down and ports were closed by the Chinese in ordered to curb opium, the British started the Opium War I, which China lost. Hong Kong was forced to be surrendered to the British in a peace talk (Nanjing Treaty). The British owned 90% of the opium market in China, during that time, Queen Victoria was the world’s biggest drug baron. The remaining 10% was owned by American merchants from Boston. Many of Boston’s institutions were built with profit from opium.
After 12 years of Nanjing Treaty, the West started getting really really greedy. The British wanted the Qing government:
1. To open the borders of China to allow goods coming in and out freely, and tax free.
2. Make opium legal in China.
Insane requests, Qing government said no. The British and French, with supports from the US and Russia from behind, started Opium War II with China, which again, China lost. The Anglo-French military raided the Summer Palace, and threatened to burn down the Imperial Palace, the Qing government was forced to pay with ports, free business zones, 300,000 kilograms of silver and Kowloon was taken. Since then, China’s resources flew out freely through these business zones and ports. In the subsequent amendment to the treaties, Chinese people were sold overseas to serve as labor.
In 1900, China suffered attacks by the 8-National Alliance(Japan, Russia, Britain, France, USA, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary). Innocent Chinese civilians in Peking (Beijing now) were murdered, buildings were destroyed & women were raped. The Imperial Palace was raided, and treasures ended up in museums like the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris.
In late 1930’s China was occupied by the Japanese in WWII. Millions of Chinese died during the occupancy. 300,000 Chinese died in Nanjing Massacre alone.
Mao brought China together again from the shambles. There were peace and unity for some time. But Mao’s later reign saw sufferings and deaths from famine and power struggles.
Then came Deng Xiao Ping and his infamous “black-cat and white-cat” story. His preference in pragmatism than ideologies has transformed China. This thinking allowed China to evolve all the time to adapt to the actual needs in the country, instead of rigidly bounded to ideologies. It also signified the death of Communism in actually practice in China. The current Socialism+Meritocracy+Market Economy model fits the Chinese like gloves, and it propels the uprise of China. Singapore has a similar model, and has been arguably more successful than Hong Kong, because Hong Kong being gateway to China, was riding on the economic boom in China, while Singapore had no one to gain from.
In just 30 years, the CPC have moved 800 millions of people out from poverty. The rate of growth is unprecedented in human history. They have built the biggest mobile network, by far the biggest high speed rail network in the world, and they have become a behemoth in infrastructure. They made a fishing village called Shenzhen into the world’s second largest technological centre after the Silicon Valley. They are growing into a technological power house. It has the most elaborate e-commerce and cashless payment system in the world. They have launched exploration to Mars. The Chinese are living a good life and China has become one of the safest countries in the world. The level of patriotism in the country has reached an unprecedented height.
For all of the achievements, the West has nothing good to say about it. China suffers from intense anti-China propaganda from the West. Western Media used the keyword “Communist” to instil fear and hatred towards China.
Everything China does is negatively reported.
They claimed China used slave labor in making iPhones. The truth was, Apple was the most profitable company in the world, it took most of the profit, leave some to Foxconn (a Taiwanese company) and little to the labor.
They claimed China was inhuman with one-child policy. By the way absolutely recommended by the UN-Health-Organisation at that time. At the same time, they accused China of polluting the earth with its huge population. The fact is the Chinese consume just 30% of energy per capita compared to the US.
They claimed China underwent ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang. The fact is China has a policy which priorities ethnic minorities. For a long time, the ethnic minorities were allowed to have two children and the majority Han only allowed one. The minorities are allowed a lower score for university intakes. There are 39,000 mosque in China, and 2100 in the US. China has about 3 times more mosque per Muslim than the US.
When terrorist attacks happened in Xinjiang, China had two choices:
1. Re-educate the Uighur extremists before they turned terrorists.
2. Let them be, after they launch attacks and killed innocent people, bomb their homes.
China chose 1 to solve problem from the root and not to do killing. How the US solve terrorism? Fire missiles from battleships, drop bombs from the sky.
During the pandemic,
When China took extreme measures to lock-down the people, they were accused of being inhuman.
When China recovered swiftly because of the extreme measures, they were accused of lying about the actual numbers.
When China’s cases became so low that they could provide medical support to other countries, they were accused of politically motivated.
Western Media always have reasons to bash China.
Just like any country, there are irresponsible individuals from China which do bad and dirty things, but the China government overall has done very well. But I hear this comment over and over by people from the West: I like Chinese people, but the CPC is “evil”\’. What they really want is the Chinese to change the government, because the current one is too good.
Fortunately China is not a multi-party democratic country, otherwise the opposition party in China will be supported by notorious NGOs (Non-Government Organization) of the USA, like the NED (National Endowment for Democracy), to topple the ruling party. The US and the British couldn’t crack Mainland China, so they work on Hong Kong. Of all the ex-British colonial countries, only the Hong Kongers were offered BNOs by the British. Because the UK would like the Hong Kongers to think they are British citizens, not Chinese. A divide-and-conquer strategy, which they often used in Color Revolutions around the world.
They resort to low dirty tricks like detaining Huawei’s CFO & banning Huawei. They raised a silly trade war which benefits no one. Trade deficit always exist between a developing and a developed country. USA is like a luxury car seller who ask a farmer: why am I always buying your vegetables and you haven’t bought any of my cars?
When the Chinese were making socks for the world 30 years ago, the world let it be. But when Chinese started to make high technology products, like Huawei and DJI, it caused red-alert. Because when Western and Japanese products are equal to Chinese in technologies, they could never match the Chinese in prices. First world countries want China to continue in making socks. Instead of stepping up themselves, they want to pull China down.
The recent movement by the US against China has a very important background. When Libya, Iran, and China decided to ditch the US dollar in oil trades, Gaddafi’s was killed by the US, Iran was being sanctioned by the US, and now it’s China’s turn. The US has been printing money out of nothing. The only reason why the US Dollar is still widely accepted, is because it’s the only currency which oil is allowed to be traded with. The US has an agreement with Saudi that oil must be traded in US dollar ONLY. Without the petrol-dollar status, the US dollars will sink, and America will fall. Therefore anyone trying to disobey this order will be eliminated. China will soon use a gold-backed crypto-currency, the alarms in the White House go off like mad.
China’s achievement has been by hard work. Not buy looting the world.
I have deep sympathy for China for all the suffering, but now I feel happy for them. China is not rising, they are going back to where they belong. Good luck China.
Ahino, cheers! Great article! Thanks!
Please write more from the South East Asian historical — and present-day — perspective when you find the time.
Western commentary these days are often demonstrably coloured, condescending, or just plain ignorant.
Totally agree. A great and refreshing article. Well done – write more if you can!
Full panic mode: ‘trade is good, trade with us’.
I think re-industrializing the West and industrializing the developing world is the right path to multipolarity
and sovereignty.
China’s rise is unstoppable, just as the decline of the US is irreversible.
As for the current prominent status of the US dollar in global trade and as a reserve currency, we need only refer to Stein’s Law which stipulates that:
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
Maintaining 1000 military bases overseas is not sustainable overtime.
Sanctioning most countries and entities is not practical in the long term.
And printing money backed by nothing – as the US does now – cannot go on forever, and as such, sooner or later there must be a reckoning.
The clocking is ticking…
Selah
The US currency – Federal Reserve Notes, aka US dollars are the only legal tender within the United States. They are all created as debt by the private banks as data entries on their computers ex nihilo, by the member banks of the central Federal Reserve Bank, also privately owned, such that:
no debts = no money
In other words for any entity, whether a person or corporation to have a positive bank balance, many other people must be in debt to the same total amount, whether it is in the form of mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, corporate debt, student loan debt or US Treasury debt. The debts are backed by the law courts, the Internal Revenue Service, and if it is foreign debt, ultimately it is the US military.
I have to correct you on this statement no debts = no money. It is actually, no money and still debts. When money (actually currency) is created, the interest payable on it is not created. That is why debts have to go exponential in the end game of the ”life of a currency” as we see now.
It was known when this system was launched (it being Keynsianism). His (Keynes) system was critized since it would blow up in the long term. His reply, in the long turn we are all dead. Short term gains won over long term stability. We are now paying the price.
Indeed. Mike Maloney covered it quite well in 2011. There is a nice graphical display of how currency and debt is created, and what happens when deflation takes out the currency supply but leaves the (unpayable) debt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2s6vzErqY&t=2710s
“…The US currency – Federal Reserve Notes, aka US dollars are the only legal tender within the
United States. …”
Actually the physical notes are not needed to discharge debts of any kind. There are more paper dollars in circulation outside the US than inside, and a staggering amount of what are termed ‘eurodollars’ which are foreign holdings of debt that was written in dollars and is to be repaid in US dollars. Debts written by foreign banks with no dollars in their vaults, who have little way to procure dollars on their own, want dollars delivered in payments of debts.
I understand the sentiment. But we need to be rational in our assessment that US$ is not going anywhere. US is by far the largest economy with *reliable* legal system and is the preferred safe haven. Chinese economy does not count for two reasons: 1) arbitrary hurdles for foreign investment and repatriation 2) arbitrary legal system – CCP can do whatever it wants e.g. the Ant financial and other internet companies affair.
Safe haven status backed by the most powerful military means US$ will continue to be the preferred international tender and safe haven asset.
The only competition is Germany + Russia put together and we all know why that cannot happen. Or won’t be allowed to happen (as history shows).
Russia and China will never be conquered again ….at least not with Nukes ready to be launched.
Scenarios:
1. Nukes will be launched….question is when ? –> Most likely scenario
2. Nukes will be rendered useless due to an event (global) –> Don’t get your hopes up, but never say never
3. Nukes will be globally disarmed –> sounds too funny to be true at this moment in history
China – An exploited people. See a great video by Stefan Verstappen
Paradise Stolen – Episode 2 – The Myth of Efficiency
https://youtu.be/KjQ01J1SQBI
and more here https://www.chinastrategies.com/
one will be tearing up soon enough
further for those wanting to do business with the Chinese a must read
https://www.chinastrategies.com/chinese-business-etiquette/
here is a great video on Historical Cycles of China
https://youtu.be/9w6QYPzF2TI
China invested in itself, and its people. The US invested in killing machines.
It is ruining its people’s health and education, to the point where the country is mentally ill, poorly educated, and physically sick.
3000 communities have toxic water supply, so the people especially poor working people are getting lead poisoning.
Dissent is made nearly impossible, first by massive disinformation and second, by force.
The greed and cruelty of the founders of the country, who wrote its constitution for their benefit, excluding 95% of the population, set in motion the forces at work today.
With the ability to plunder curtailed as the rest of the world rises, it will sink further.
“…The greed and cruelty of the founders of the country, who wrote its constitution for their benefit, excluding 95% of the population, set in motion the forces at work today….”
This is incorrect, are you getting your talking points from the marxists at BLM or the 1619 Project?
In 1789 when the Constitution was signed, between 50-75% of white men owned land, and were thus voters. When new states joined the original 13, many of them gave the right to vote to all freemen residents, not just white landholders. This included blacks who were freemen in some places. The history of the USA is far more complex than is frequently depicted by those with an agenda to work. And there were European settlers here for 180 years before the founding of the nation. By the time of the Pilgrims in 1620, estimates are that 90-95% of the Amerindians had already succumbed to European diseases that were brought in originally by the Spanish in 1493, more than 100 years earlier.
The Opium War narrative is mostly national mythology (the Chinese Mandarins were partnered with the Scottish smugglers). Hong Kong’s prosperity was not based on it being a mainland ‘gateway’, it’s economy is quite similar to that of Singapore. The mosques in the PRC do not enjoy freedom of religion due to constant surveillance and interference by the state security apparatus. The PRC appoints the Imams and writes their permitted literature. China’s other choice regarding the Uighurs would of course be to return their homeland to them. Imperial China maintained its exact borders for millenia without expanding, only because it was believed that they were a natural limit in terms of stability. Modern China has greatly expanded these borders, by invading and colonising Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, East Turkestan and Tibet. As a result the PRC is likely to become unstable within a generation.
It always amazes me how seemingly intelligent people are so easily led to believe such absolute rubbish ,Hajduk,I wonder if you have been to China ? Please do some honest research,and you just might discover the uygiur “homeland” could have been Turkmenistan,language et al’
Unfortunately much of the world does not form an opinion after doing honest research. Rather they select facts to reinforce their favourite belief. May we all be vigilant not to do the same.
So you want us to believe, that only in China there is such a thing like security and surveillance apparatus?USA boasts that it has 17 such agencies! Oh, I forgot, unlike China’s, they are all based on democratic principles, and they strive all day long to make “all men equal”!
china has restricted saudi Wahhabi immans and teachings. fake islam. in indonesia and others saudi fuel extremism. you should read up about who the saudi royal family are. jews from iraq.
You obviously have no idea about China and keep repeating Western lousy narratives.
Do yourself a favor. Save a few bucks, learn a few words, go visit China.
You won’t want to come back to whatever rotting place you call home.
Great essay, hits all the points. As a side note if I may, a savings account at a bank in Iran pays 12.6% interest and even Syria which is at war pays 3.6% on savings accounts. I get .5% on mine here in the U.S.A. how is that ?? I told friends about theses Iran and Syrian savings accounts and they didn’t believe me but Google set them right.
Middle East , Iran, African all been through the very similar story. But they didn’t have the strong government like China. So their struggles were defeated. I also say good luck to China. Don’t allow power to corrupt, as it always does. 😔
Thank you for this very good write up!
a very refreshing summary of facts….this comment/report is truly a treasure every western hypocrite journoshould read a digest slowly until completely understood…..
well done.
Concise, insightful, carry on the good work.reveal the evil plans of evil people. Dont let evil triumph over good.
@shushanti
being a malaysian, your understanding of china’s century of humiliation put those “kuntonese cucks” in HK to shame. hope to read more of your proses soon …
Great. Thank you.
I lived 12 years in China.
By far, the most interesting place on the planet.
Very excellent article and good example, thank You!
“They didn’t take lands.”
“Fortunately China is not a multi-party democratic country…”
“Instead of stepping up themselves, they want to pull China down.”
“China’s achievement has been by hard work. Not buy looting the world.”
Chineses hold together. Our governments destroy their own peoples by false way of life, false idols, and war.
China is dominating Islam. But the West is eaten up by moslems without any trace left, because we chose the wrong way!
The article is too simplistic and promotes mythical dimension to China..
China till now have invented nothing though history says they invented gunpowder.
Today they are relegated to copying products from the west.
They have Industrial parks full of western products and technologies.
They also host Japanese and Taiwan companies.
China for now is still a glorified labour supplier.
And they are struggling to sell their products to world markets. China bought IBM thinkpad and promoted them as Lenovo. They are still recovering that investment vey slowly.
China is not a sleeping Giant. They are a great country. That does not make the west Lilliput.
Please remember that it is not the people of the west who devised and implemented these plans, it is the elites of the west, some in each country, heavy representation by the bankers and industrialists.
“…The remaining 10% was owned by American merchants from Boston. Many of Boston’s institutions were built with profit from opium….”
One of those Boston Brahmin who ran the US share of the opium trade had the surname of Forbes; as in the oligarch dynasty, and in the name of John Forbes Kerry, though he is not directly descended.