CHINA, CORRUPTION AND THE PEASANT UPRISING

Mysterious and obscure China is the emerging superpower #1. Major lender of the American economy that grows decrepit, it is also the main consumer of global energy resources and the owner of an increasing military might. Its economy, the most dynamic in the world, is perfectly integrated into communist ideology. During the age of global crises and total reappraisal of values certain politicians and theoreticians unwittingly lift their eyes to the East, seeking for the formula of social harmony.

SCO or anti-NATO?

Despite the tremendous financial aid that America renders to Pakistan, recently anti-American sentiments have ripened in this country — Pakistani, who assisted the CIA during the search and discovery of the “terrorist #1” have been arrested for one. The USA are obviously “losing” Pakistan, but the very fact that this country may join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) any moment make the regional situation critical for the United States. Add the scheduled withdrawal of the U.S. and allied troops from Afghanistan (which also drifts towards the SCO) here and the change of regional balance of powers becomes apparent. Simultaneously, the inveterate issue of the Indian-Pakistani stand is being settled — India also has all the chances to become an SCO member.

Not the right time for the G2. Part 2

Chinese economic miracle became possible and will remain such in future if PRC decides to be a part of global economic and political system, if it will wish and be able to participate in the global discourse on the model of its further development and exchange of ideas. Therefore, fantasies about unipolar and even bipolar (the USA—China) world would hardly come true in the foreseeable future. China is, without a shadow of doubt, an important element of global economics, politics and international security. But the roles of the so-called emerging powers like Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia and Turkey will also be increasing. That’s why we have to mark out the following statement of the U.S. State Secretary:

“History teaches that the rise of new powers often ushers in periods of conflict and uncertainty. Indeed, on both sides of the Pacific, we do see some trepidation about the rise of China and about the future of the U.S.-China relationship. Some in the region and some here at home see China’s growth as a threat that will lead either to Cold War-style conflict or American decline. And some in China worry that the United States is bent on containing China’s rise and constraining China’s growth, a view that is stoking a new streak of assertive Chinese nationalism. We reject those views.”

Not the right time for the G2. Part I

On the 18^th of February, right before Hu Jintao’s visit to the USA, Hillary Clinton delivered a speech in the State Department where she mentioned the possible future format of Sino-American relationship in the 21^st century. Recent rapid growth of the PRC economics made everyone talking about the new Chinese global role, which may reconfigure the G8 having reduced it to the G2 — alliance of America and China.

Public address of the U.S. State Secretary was timed to the commemoration events for Richard C. Holbrooke, who passed away in the end of last year. This well-known American diplomat used to be the State Secretary Deputy for the Asian-Pacific region in Jimmy Carter’s government and was mostly responsible for the coordination of foreign-policy efforts that normalized the diplomatic relations between the PRC and the USA in 1978-79 after death of Mao Zedong and Dang Xiaoping’s coming to power. Since then world has changed and so have both of these countries. As madam State Secretary emphasized, it was the rule of Democratic President (Richard Nixon) and efforts of then chief of American diplomacy Henry Kissinger that helped to achieve the fundamental improvement of bilateral relationship:

The first currency war with an unpredictable outcome. Dollar versus yuan.

In September Congressmen from House of Representatives adopted the bill on measures of counteraction to the low yuan exhange rate. In particular, this bill allows American companies to file the claims for imposition of import duties for the Chinese goods in order to compenste the effect of low exchange yuan-dollare rate.

In fact the wealthiest country in the world owes great amounts of money to China, which owns 20% of all American state securities.

Chinese are holding the detonator, capable of exploding an entire American financial system in their hands. U.S. Department of Finance bonds are just the loan securities, which American government is obliged to pay up with an interest — that’s actually what governments of other countries and various financial institutions are buying them for. Why then — despite the U.S.-born financial crisis — investors from all over the world are still buying up these securities?