The Economist on China – Seriously – Part 3/4

January 12, 2011

Part 3 continues the coverage of The Economist’s special report of China.

4. In the balance, The Economist (TE) says, “Their wealth (all of Asia) depends on China, their security on America. Which way should Asian countries face?”

In conclusion, TE says, “Either way, American and China are likely to compete to win the loyalty of the region. That, too, could poison the most important relationship of all—the one between China and America.”

I say that the rest of Asia will be tempted to play America against China to gain more from the rivalry and this will increase the danger of a conflict between the US and China.

5. In Friends, or else, TE says, “Living with China’s rise will test America’s diplomacy as never before.”

In Conclusion, TE says, “Not since the 19th century have they (diplomats) had as great a task as managing the relationship between China and America…”

I say this is an area where the US is weak due to political partisanship in the US.

It doesn’t help when different political agendas in the US such as that of conservative evangelical Christians or the neoconservative movement is manipulating the votes of millions of Americans.

Groups such as these believe they have more to gain by making China an enemy and a scapegoat than a friend.

In the end, if such groups win, we all lose.

The political atmosphere in the US will make the job of American diplomats almost impossible to accomplish since most mainland Chinese believe that what they hear from the US media is the voice of America’s government as the Chinese media is the voice of China’s central government.

6. In “Strategic reassurance“, TE says, “Many things could worsen relations between China and America.”

Then TE offers ten ways to make relations between China and the US better. In Part 4 of this series, I will offer a conclusion along with what TE has to say.

Return to The Economist on China – Seriously – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Amy Chua on Superior Chinese Mothers

January 11, 2011

I’m sure that Amy Chua had no idea she was about to light a Baby Boomer fuse that would explode when she wrote her essay published in The Wall Street Journal about Why Chinese Mothers are Superior.

In 2000, Paul Begala, a political strategist for President Bill Clinton, wrote in Esquire, “The Baby Boomers are the most self-centered, self-seeking, self-interested, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self aggrandizing generation in American history.”

Begala was right.

The Boomers also gave birth to the narcissistic, self-esteem generation.

Amy Chua’s memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother went on sale today (January 11, 2011), and my wife and I went to the local Barnes and Noble and bought a copy.

Nancy (not her real name), who works for Barnes and Noble, told us of an experience she had substitute teaching in a girls P.E. Class. She said there were about 150 girls. Half were Asian and half were Caucasian.  When Nancy told them to sit and read or do what they wanted, the Asians took out books and studied. The Caucasians started to text, do makeup and gossip.

Studies show that the average American Boomer parent talks to his or her children less than five minutes a day and more than 80% never attend a parent-teacher conference. Boomer parents are so self-absorbed with other interests that TV, the Internet, video games and other teens raised many of their children.

However, when Chinese mothers come together, their conversations focus on their children and education, which explains why studies show Asian students have the lowest incidence of STDs, teen pregnancy, illegal drug use and the highest GPAs, graduation rates from high school and highest ratio of college attendance.

What do you think Boomer mothers talk about when they get together?

A close friend of mine, who isn’t Chinese, read Amy Chua’s essay and many of the comments attacking Chua for her tough stance as a mother. He said it is obvious that Chinese mothers love their children and American mothers don’t because love means sacrifice.

The vicious responses I have been reading on Blogs and in some book reviews are obviously a guilt reaction for not being good parents. The truth hurts.

Learn about Education Chinese Style

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

3 Comments | America, American culture, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese women, cultural differences, education, family values, parenting | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Economist on China – Seriously – Part 2/4

January 11, 2011

In Part One, I wrote about “The Dangers of a Rising China”.  In part two, we shall explore The Economist’s Special Report.

1. In Brushwood and gall, China insists that its growing military and diplomatic clout pose no threat. Edward Carr says, “The rest of the world, and particularly America, is not so sure.”

In conclusion, The Economist (TE) says, “American arms remain vastly superior, but in China’s coastal waters they would no longer confer such an easy victory.”

The message is clear— a military conflict with China would not be worth the price.

2. The fourth modernisation focuses on China becoming a military force to reckon with in the western Pacific and how America should respond.

The conclusion says, “Perhaps China does not mean ever to use its weapons aggressively. But American defense planners cannot rely on that, so they must respond.”

In addition, because of this, TE predicts relations between China and America will probably sour.

However, I feel if America acts the bully, China will respond in kind, which puts the ball in America’s court. China might bluff but America may be the bully.

3. In Less biding and hiding, The Economist says, “China is becoming more nationalistic and more assertive. How will other countries react?”

In conclusion, TE says, “Asian security will be determined not just by how China uses its new strength but by how other countries react to it.… Other countries will relax if they are reassured that China does not pose a threat.…”

Therefore, only the future will show us if China plans to be an aggressor (something I doubt will happen unless China is provoked and feels insulted first).

In Part 3, we will continue to summarize The Economist’s special report of China.

Return to The Economist on China – Seriously – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Economist on China – Seriously – Part 1/4

January 10, 2011

The wind is blowing and it is raining. When I started writing this post, the Internet and phone had been out for several days. I thought the storm had caused it, but it turned out vandals broke into several junction boxes and cut the lines to thousands of homes. It took several days before being reconnected.

Until you lose your connection to the Internet, you do not realize how much your life has been taken over by the virtual beast.

I have The Economist’s (TE) December 4th issue in front of me. It has a fourteen page, six-part, special report on The dangers of a rising China.

Don’t read much into that title. After reading the report, you will realize the danger comes more from the US than China. One sentence says, “The best way to turn China into an opponent is to treat it as one.”

There’s a message in this sentence the US government should heed.

In fact, as China expands into the world economically and militarily, what happens in the future is up to America more than China.

In Half a cheer for China, which comes before the 14 page report, TE quoted Antonio Chiang, a political analyst and former editor-in-chief of the Taipei Times, as saying, “The point of no return (for Taiwan rejoining the mainland sometime in the future) has already passed”.

Chiang believes that President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration’s goal is to unify with China. If this happens, this will not go over well in the US after selling billions of high-tech weapons to Taiwan.

After all, if Taiwan unites with China, all of those US weapons may belong to China.

This topic will be continued in Part 2. Meanwhile, learn of the 2/28 Massacre in Taiwan

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

2 Comments | America, China, cultural differences, politics, Taiwan | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Separation of Church and State – Part 3/3

January 8, 2011

It is a fact that the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear anywhere in the Constitution.

However, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the 1st Amendment erected a “wall of separation” between the church and the state

James Madison said it “drew a line,” but it is Jefferson’s term that sticks with us today.

The phrase is commonly thought to mean that the government should not establish, support, or otherwise involve itself in any religion. The Religion Topic Page addresses this issue in more detail.

However, because Thomas Jefferson advocated a separation between church and state, he drafted a bill in 1785 designed to end any attempt to provide taxes for the purpose of furthering religious education.

Jefferson’s bill was passed making it the law of the land. His bill has also been challenged more than once in the Supreme Court and was upheld.

In Everson Versus Board (330 US 1 [1947]), the US Supreme court in a  close 5-4 vote ruled “The ‘establishment of religion’ clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws, which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another.… Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect ‘a wall of separation between Church and State.”

Again in 1971, in Lemon versus Kurtzman (403 US 602 [1971]), the US Supreme Court ruled “In the absence of precisely stated constitutional prohibitions, we must draw lines with reference to the three main evils against which the Establishment Clause was intended to afford protection: sponsorship, financial support, and active involvement of the sovereign in religious activity.…  the statute must not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion.”

I’ve written before that the Founding Fathers despised democracy and created a Republic to protect Americans from the democratic mob.

Now, what the Founding Fathers fears has come to pass. The US has now become a democracy and the mob has been revealed and they are evangelical Christians — that segment of the population that helped vote George W. Bush into the White House for his second term.

The wall that Thomas Jefferson established to protect US citizens from the tyranny of religion has been breached and nations such as India, Russia, China and all Islamic countries have taken notice.

Although China’s Constitution was written in 1982, it is obvious that China’s leaders took care to protect China from the same tyranny that now threatens the US and the globe.

Return to Separation of Church and State – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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