By Denys Springer
It is often said that even the darkest of clouds have a silver lining. The late Donald Mc Cain was right to propose in 2008 “that the US should expand the G8 by taking in India and Brazil but politically exclude China from the councils of power”.
In the midst of COVID-19 pandemic which originated from China, we see them taking the opportunity to intimidate Taiwan to the fullest by their insertion into Taiwanese air space and having military drills close to Taiwan. What is also being witnessed is the crackdown in Hong Kong (HK) – aggressive and brutal. We have also seen human rights abuses against the Uighur Muslims. The Chinese government under its leader Xi Jinping shows clearly that fairness and reciprocity is not a word China is used to in the business world because of their dishonesty.
Xi Jinping and his Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cohorts showed that on Hong Kong issue they had no intention respecting the term limits of 50 years informally instituted by Deng Xiaoping under the “One country – Two systems” that they had agreed to more than two decades ago. Instead, the new emperor of China thinks that he can do whatever he wants because he has an inflated ego of himself and his power. What he had not realized was that much of what was in place was due specifically due to HK importance in the world market and that was primarily due to the role Britain played when managing HK. Now, because of the violations of these conditions, many businesses are not prepared to deal with HK under the Chinese CCP terms and intend to pull out.
As I sit and ponder the audacity and arrogance of Xi Jinping of China although, I am not a supporter of Donald Trump and never will, I agree on the stance he is taking with China in the selling of arms to Taiwan which president Obama did not do because of pressure from China. Dan Xiaoping in the 80s and 90s was of the view that China had to be patient even though it took 100 years or more to establish itself peacefully. He emphasized that it will happen but must be done in a manner that does not upset the rest of the world and therefore patience is important. What he did not foresee was that one would emerge even though he was purged like himself by Moa, but this individual would not take heed of his wise words and seem unable to wait and allow the world to warm up to China to make it a great nation.
There is no doubt in my mind that China was getting there until Xi Jinping came into power. During the early years the international community thought that they could work with him and could see China embracing democracy because he seems humane, would observe the rule of law, was humble and above all a pleasant individual. However, under that soft exterior which he portrayed, he was without a doubt arrogant and can be termed cruel by the way he has treated the Muslims of Xianjing. He is despotic and besotted by being the modern-day emperor of China. This is the man who virtually broke the rules to make himself president for life. He talked about the crackdown on corruption; yet, at present, there is still covert corruption and China now has the greatest number of millionaires in the world.
In my view, he has duped the world time and time again even with his ‘One Belt One Road initiative’ which seem to be a godsend to countries in need of infrastructure projects but has become a noose around those who could not pay back like Sri Lanka. One of its major ports was seized because of non- payment. What has infuriated me and am sure many others around the world is the ‘dishonesty’ of China at every level. They have been pervasive and pernicious with the Muslims in Xianjing province. They have also shown the world that they cannot be trusted on the HK issue and their weak answer is that it is an internal affair and the rest of the world should not interfere.
They have broken international maritime laws by building small islands in the South China Seas which borders nearly five to six countries. Yet, they claim that over 90 percent of the South China Seas belongs to China. This is unacceptable and the Philippines who brought a case against China in terms of the South China Seas have now acceded to China’s cat and mouse games because of promises made in terms of a substantial largesse.
To be continued … The focus on Taiwan
