Dear Deshane and all thoughtful forum friends,
China is going to be a superpower. It is on its way, but hasn't reached that status yet.
Do you all know that in the past week the Chinese government has declared Canada
as one of the countries Chinese people are free to visit and tour? If they intended to keep the clamps on forever, do you think they would allow their people
to see other ways that they will want, too? I think it is a preparation for many of your people to form opinions about such things as the writer holds against
your government. If I'm right, they will respond when they feel it is safe enough to loosen up.
As for China as a conquering country, I put my hope in her history which is reported to be that she has never tried to take over lands outside of her traditional territories. That seems to leave almost the entire world free of a China that
wishes to conquer parts of it for her own needs.
The Chinese government has an unusual situation to cope with because of its huge
population. I don't see that any other countries have this problem except India
. India also has a huge population. Maybe someone can tell me the figures. India is an entirely different case from China. The two countries can't be compared. It seems though, that India too, is emerging as a coming superpower. Some
say it will emerge before China. I don't see how, but I suppose it's possible.
China has about 1.3 billion people, I think. Please correct me if I'm wrong and
it's more. Many of these people haven't yet been able to emerge into the modern world. It takes a lot of care to decide wisely how to proceed with such a huge population. I see from this forum that the children of poor peasants are often in university, and that these children will be prepared by this to enter the
modern age and take their part in the emergence of China as a remarkable and magnificent world wonder and power.
India is still bound by the caste system. This is its terrible failure. I have
read about it. Although the government has moved to weaken it, things are still the same as ever in very many places. There is that lowest class of untouchable people who, no matter how intelligent and talented, no matter how kind and thoughtful, no matter how strong and well built and healthy, are despised. These
have no choice but to do such jobs as sewer cleaning, physically immersed in filth, and other such jobs that no one else will do. It is a convenient old custom.
I can only think there was deep and evil craftiness behind it all those centuries ago when priests made the caste system.
My understanding is that there is nothing like this in China. If there were, and I don't believe there is, I would be incredibly, extremely disappointed. It is because I believe that China is doing her best to bring the mass of people along as steadily as possible that I respect her so much.
It isn't possible to be perfect. China is undoubtedly far from perfect. Nevertheless it is clear that there is considerable wisdom behind many of her moves.
I'm glad more and more of your people will visit this country. The more we all
mix together the healthier the world will become in every way. I hope that we will some day have many of your fine people here as Canadian citizens. Not because they are fleeing their own country, but because they find more room here. They'll go back to visit their homeland. Their children will marry our children, and we'll be more one family than we all were before.
As the writer Deshane quoted wrote in response to the article, I too, found acid
and venom in the article. It is true that China is already causing our textile
industries here a lot of trouble, because you seem to have become textile makers to the world. No doubt there will be other major difficulties to overcome. Change has to be absorbed, and that takes time, wisdom, and cooperation. Our Prime Minister Martin just visited China. Agreements were signed, and I expect good will come out of it, and progress for both of our nations. We want to diversify our buyers and not "keep all our eggs in one basket." That is a dangerous position to be in, as we find now with the softwood lumber problem between us and
the USA, regardless of what the free trade agreement signed by both countries says.
Surely China wouldn't join Russia to gang up against her vital trading partners?
I think China is becoming far too enmeshed in world trade to do such a thing.
I hope Russia will be able to recover, and bring herself back into a stable position, too.
Wars have to stop. They will stop. The world is too small, and that repost from Tulipgy about the ten year lead-time left to contain the worst of global warming, before it gets out of control altogether, is bound to be one of the things that will stop it. How can humanity continue to waste time and energy on war while its only home, (we see that all planets near enough to escape to are uninhabitable for us, so that hope of some people has vanished,) is going to lash back at humans who aren't caring for her. Earth can continue to live quite well without us. But we can't live outside of her relatively normal range of stablility that works for us. We can only survive in quite a narrow range. If we don't have our needs we will lose human civilization and revert to an earlier form of brutal existence. Are we such fools?
I don't think Chinese are. I don't think Canadians are. I think there are those who understand, all over the world.
Best wishes to you, Deshane,
Mary
