Comments on: It’s time for the U.S. to SHUT UP http://alex.golub.name/log/2006/08/20/its-time-for-the-us-to-shut-up/ Just. One. Column. Fri, 23 Dec 2011 01:04:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Rex http://alex.golub.name/log/2006/08/20/its-time-for-the-us-to-shut-up/comment-page-1/#comment-40475 Rex Tue, 22 Aug 2006 08:04:49 +0000 http://alex.golub.name/log/2006/08/20/its-time-for-the-us-to-shut-up/#comment-40475 Honestly I think that Grace was pitching him slow balls that he could have knocked out of the park -- what better opportunity to demonstrate the reasonableness of China's policy then to compare it to the ever-unpopular Rumsfeld? That said I think that Su is very oriented to the last two centuries of China's history, which didn't exactly involve China forcing the British to continue selling opium in London, if you know what I mean. If Grace wanted to pursue questions of China's human rights record and potential imperialist intentions she'd have done better to bring up Tibet or 1989. Honestly I think that Grace was pitching him slow balls that he could have knocked out of the park — what better opportunity to demonstrate the reasonableness of China’s policy then to compare it to the ever-unpopular Rumsfeld? That said I think that Su is very oriented to the last two centuries of China’s history, which didn’t exactly involve China forcing the British to continue selling opium in London, if you know what I mean. If Grace wanted to pursue questions of China’s human rights record and potential imperialist intentions she’d have done better to bring up Tibet or 1989.

]]> By: Alex Stewart http://alex.golub.name/log/2006/08/20/its-time-for-the-us-to-shut-up/comment-page-1/#comment-40466 Alex Stewart Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:55:00 +0000 http://alex.golub.name/log/2006/08/20/its-time-for-the-us-to-shut-up/#comment-40466 It’s a fascinating interaction: the former superpower (Britain) asks the future superpower (China) about what the current superpower says of its “ambition.” Although I don’t know why Carrie Gracie chose to quote Donald Rumsfeld’s assessments of the Chinese military- he doesn’t exactly scream credibility… It’s also reminiscent of “yellow peril” paranoia when she talks about China using soft power to control nations “culturally, almost subliminally.” China needs resources just like everyone else and its hard not to see the U.S. government’s hypocrisy. Even though he greatly simplified Chinese history, I enjoyed Su's historical references. Just because they never had a Western-style colony doesn’t mean their foreign relations were peaceful. China even had its own Vietnam quagmire (in Vietnam) during the early Ming Dynasty. But Su would rather focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which explains his passion about “territorial integrity.” In the PRC, I often heard people assert that all Chinese people believe the same thing, but it still sounds ludicrous when Su says, “People have their freedom of choice and whatever political system they want it’s their business. Anyway for the Chinese, we have a choosing. It’s the socialist system.” It’s a fascinating interaction: the former superpower (Britain) asks the future superpower (China) about what the current superpower says of its “ambition.” Although I don’t know why Carrie Gracie chose to quote Donald Rumsfeld’s assessments of the Chinese military- he doesn’t exactly scream credibility…

It’s also reminiscent of “yellow peril” paranoia when she talks about China using soft power to control nations “culturally, almost subliminally.” China needs resources just like everyone else and its hard not to see the U.S. government’s hypocrisy.

Even though he greatly simplified Chinese history, I enjoyed Su’s historical references. Just because they never had a Western-style colony doesn’t mean their foreign relations were peaceful. China even had its own Vietnam quagmire (in Vietnam) during the early Ming Dynasty. But Su would rather focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which explains his passion about “territorial integrity.”

In the PRC, I often heard people assert that all Chinese people believe the same thing, but it still sounds ludicrous when Su says,

“People have their freedom of choice and whatever political system they want it’s their business. Anyway for the Chinese, we have a choosing. It’s the socialist system.”

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