2301 GMT, 990727 China/U.S. - By a vote of 260-170 the U.S. House of Representatives on July 27 approved the extension of normal trade relations with China for another year.
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To whom....,
The more the Chinese act like our old friends (Suharto, Pinochet, etc.), the more our proud legislators embrace them. China is quickly transforming into our new, favorite, third-world, capitalist, authoritarian regime. Of course China is perfect. With many hundreds of millions of poor working people under their thumb, the regime of the Red Mandarins dwarfs the potential of places like the PRI's Mexico.
The brand of authoritarian capitalism in Japan and Korea warmed the hearts of liberals with its appearance of social-mindedness because it seemed to provide a general prosperity. The new Chinese capitalist prosperity is alarmingly concentrated in a few areas and a few hands. What's more, the Japanese capitalism fostered fairly strong liberal democracy and the Korean capitalism fostered a reasonably strong labor union/opposition movement. Also, the Korean cops rarely used tanks and automatic weapons to meet their protests, even when the protesters got quite unpleasant (with sticks, rocks, firebombs and Tae Kwon Do). The Chinese seem unable to tolerate even guitar playing, meditating and speaking on little megaphones. What's more, the Chinese are clearly looking to concentrate power, co-opt capitalist power into the regime, and move decidedly *away* from liberal democracy or any culture of protest.
The more the left sticks with the CPC - reflexively throwing barbs at Tibet, etc. -, the more certainly they will ride down with that regime into another embarrassment as great or greater than the collapse of the hollow Soviet balloon. Alternately, it may be that the CPC will not force a crisis and simply transform itself into a completely Peronist regime with Mao their Evita - or have they already?
peace