Re: Hell on Earth
The US needs to be very careful with China. Not only do we owe them a lot (the Iraq invasion/occupation is mostly funded via lending from them), but the current trade differential is every bit as important. They're going to start exporting cars, trucks, and other heavy equipment in the next few years, so that gap is only going to widen. They also have one of the hugest cash reserves in the world.There is a very strong anti-US sentiment growing in China already, due in no small part to the China-bashing going on in our media. The recent quality and health scares, while real, represent a minuscule proportion of China's exports and most people over there think we're blowing things way out of proportion.There are also a lot of concerns among the educated Chinese (at least many that I came in contact with) that the Olympics are putting China under a microscope that other Olympic hosts have not had to deal with. This seems normal to us, as much of the West sees China as a developing economy, or at least a developing capitalist market. The Chinese see themselves as a culture with a couple thousand years of history that for much of that time was ahead culturally and technologically of every other culture on the planet.In other words, China has a big chip on their shoulder and it won't be long before they're just daring us to knock it off. They've got the cash reserves to back it up along with about 1/3 billion potential military draftees.....Given how GWB has screwed up our foreign relations elsewhere, it would not surprise me to see him tank this one before we are relieved of his incompetence.
P
pkjensen
(view)
The US needs to be very careful with China. Not only do we owe them a lot (the Iraq invasion/occupation is mostly funded via lending from them), but the current trade differential is every bit as important. They're going to start exporting cars, trucks, and other heavy equipment in the next few years, so that gap is only going to widen. They also have one of the hugest cash reserves in the world.There is a very strong anti-US sentiment growing in China already, due in no small part to the China-bashing going on in our media. The recent quality and health scares, while real, represent a minuscule proportion of China's exports and most people over there think we're blowing things way out of proportion.There are also a lot of concerns among the educated Chinese (at least many that I came in contact with) that the Olympics are putting China under a microscope that other Olympic hosts have not had to deal with. This seems normal to us, as much of the West sees China as a developing economy, or at least a developing capitalist market. The Chinese see themselves as a culture with a couple thousand years of history that for much of that time was ahead culturally and technologically of every other culture on the planet.In other words, China has a big chip on their shoulder and it won't be long before they're just daring us to knock it off. They've got the cash reserves to back it up along with about 1/3 billion potential military draftees.....Given how GWB has screwed up our foreign relations elsewhere, it would not surprise me to see him tank this one before we are relieved of his incompetence.
