US–China Relations as 2010 Ends

December 18, 2010

Al Jazeera English reported on US China Relations saying, China had a good 2009. It marked not only its 60th anniversary as the People’s Republic but managed to avoid a recession that engulfed most of the world.

While America’s economy suffered horribly during the recession, China’s birthday celebrations arrived with its economic engine growing at a steady eight percent, while China did what needed to be done to put its people to work.

All these gains saw China achieve a more equal relationship with the United States.

Then there was the incident over Google threatening to leave China. 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded, “We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns and questions. We look to the Chinese government for an explanation.”

Then when a Chinese court recently sentenced Liu Xiaobo, a Western style democracy activist, to prison, the US sent a diplomat to the Chinese courthouse to speak in public.

Once there, he said to the media, “The United States government is deeply concerned by the sentence of eleven years in prison announced today in the case of prominent Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo under the charge of inciting subversion of state power.”

Gerald Tan of Al Jazeera concluded with, “These shifting tones signal tougher times ahead for the two world powers.

Note from Blog host:  Al Jazeera should have mentioned other bumps in the road the US has had with China in the past such as the 1999 US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia or the 2001 collision between a US surveillance plane and a Chinese PLA fighter jet near China’s coast.

These incidents were worse and eventually relations improved again between the US and China.

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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 Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 7/7

December 17, 2010

Left Coast Voices posted a piece about Liu Xiabo, a leader of the Chinese democracy movement, who won the latest Nobel Peace Prize. My response turned into a seven part series.

What is the freedom that Liu Xiabo wants for China? 

From today’s Western democratic perspective, it means the individual is king and may do whatever he or she wants even rape children, murder and steal with the knowledge that his or her rights are protected regardless of the crimes and suffering caused.

Then there is the Western, Christian concept that even violent murderers and/or rapists of infants may ask God for forgiveness, and that forgiveness will be granted no matter the crime—no matter the suffering caused in society.

Meanwhile, in China, other than restrictions on political dissent and a limited number of religious choices, the people are free to live any honest lifestyle he or she can afford to support, as is the case in the West.

As for religious freedom in China, that is not important to most Chinese since Religion in China has been characterized by pluralism since the beginning of recorded Chinese history as far back as five thousand years.

Chinese religions are family-oriented and do not demand the exclusive adherence of members.

Generally, the percentages of people who call themselves religious in China have been the lowest in the world. This does not mean that most Chinese do not believe in heaven or God.

They just do not need to belong to organized religions such as Christianity or Islam.

In fact, evidence in the West says that political dissent isn’t an important freedom since about half of the West’s eligible voters don’t vote anyway.

After all, nonvoters in America are too busy enjoying many of the freedoms that are now enjoyed by the citizens of China.

However, I admit that I enjoy my First Amendment rights as a US citizen, or I might not be writing this Blog defending China’s right to decide its political future.

As a US citizen, I do vote and express my political opinions, but I don’t stage public demonstrations as Liu Xiabo did in China. If you study the Chinese Constitution, you will discover that what he did could be considered illegal in China’s collective culture.

Return to The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 6

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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

Morgan Freeman’s Bucket List and China

December 16, 2010

When I read today that Morgan Freeman had died, I dived into Google looking for verification from a traditional media source. I’ve come to distrust some virtual sources, which explains why there are so many links in my posts to the sources I quote.

While learning that Morgan Freeman was still alive and it was a Twitter hoax, I discovered that a right-wing political campaign had hijacked his voice during the 2010-midyear elections, which shows how dirty US politics has become.

The New York Daily News reported that Morgan Freeman said, “I didn’t voice GOP attack ad despite campaign’s claims. These people are lying!”

Similar deceit and lies brought us the Iraq and Vietnam Wars.

Then the Travel Maven mentioned Morgan Freeman and sidekick Jack Nicholson zipping along the Great Wall of China on a motorcycle as they followed their Bucket List.

I also discovered that 72-year-old Morgan Freeman divorced his wife of 25 years in 2009 and plans to marry his 27-year-old step-granddaughter. I hadn’t heard that before and I didn’t check any further.

I don’t judge Freeman for his personal life.  If Woody Allen can do it, so can Freeman.

Then I ran into Hunter Seeker.com — another Blogger hiding behind a fake name.

Seeker said, “Well you can imagine my surprise when I heard his (Freeman’s) voice in a commercial for Visa who are sponsors of the Beijing Olympic! I was not only shocked but disappointed that he had done the commercial. I would have thought the he of all people would have declined to do it. I guess I was wrong. I guess the only question I can ask is Why?”

Without much evidence, many in the West fall for emotional messages and do not check the facts to learn if China is guilty of all the things it has been accused of.

One comment at Hunter Seeker.com from Karen Byrne is a perfect example. “Does that mean I love China and all the horrible things they do to their population — NO! NO! NO!”

Karen, what horrible things has China done to their population recently?  Do you know?

In fact, the government that replaced Mao after he died in 1976 has done nothing horrible to at least 99.9% of China’s huge population.

In fact, China took the 20% literacy rate in 1976 and in the next thirty years raised it higher than 90%. 

The new government also improved the nation’s schools and lifted all but 10% of China out of poverty while modernizing the cities, and building more roads, railroads and airports to help the country and the people prosper.

China’s central government has also made deals globally to make sure China’s people do not starve and die again as so many did under Mao during the Great Leap Forward.

I don’t care who Morgan Freeman marries or sleeps with. I don’t care where his Visa commercials air and I believe that China’s current central government is not as guilty as the Western media and American politicians have made it seem for gullible people like Seeker and Karen Byrne.

Learn the facts — Dictatorship Defined

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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 Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 6/7

December 16, 2010

Left Coast Voices posted a piece about Liu Xiabo, a leader of the Chinese democracy movement, who won the latest Nobel Peace Prize. My response turned into a seven part series.

Another flaw behind this concept of Christian dominated, Western Humanitarianism and democracy led to the 2008 global financial crises which left a few individual Wall Street bankers very rich while causing about 64 trillion US dollars in global loses leading to tens of millions of vanished jobs and much suffering for people around the world.

In China, the West’s concept of Humanitarianism will not work well, since the safety, stability and harmony of the group is more important than the individual—the opposite of Western style Humanitarianism as advocated by the Nobel Peace Prize committee and Liu Xiabo.

For example, those US bankers that brought down the global economy in 2008 are still free to cause more global economic havoc while growing larger personal fortunes.

In China, the men that caused the 2008 financial crises would have been executed or locked up for life for the financial loses and suffering that was caused by unbridled individual greed. Many of the employees that worked for these men may have also earned prison sentences.

If you want to learn who those men were, I recommend visiting the Website for Inside Job, a documentary of the global financial crises.

Return to The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 5

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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 Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 5/7

December 15, 2010

Left Coast Voices posted a piece about Liu Xiabo, a leader of the Chinese democracy movement, who won the latest Nobel Peace Prize. My response turned into a seven part series.

In this segment, I will write about the self-esteem movement in America and make the connection that Western style democracy and Humanitarianism are not right for cultures such as China.

The self-esteem movement in the US had its start in the 18th century and as a cancer grew from there to the epidemic that now threatens the foundations of the United States.

The self-esteem movement makes sure that children hear only positive praise and that before turning 18, that the facade of success and getting good grades (not necessarily earning those grades) in school are guaranteed.

In the last few decades, this leg of Western style democratic humanitarianism has put much pressure on teachers to deliver the impossible.

However, in China, students must earn school grades through hard work (there are no gifts to help one feel good) and the competition is fierce while failure is crushing, which explains the high suicide rate in “all” of Asia (where the self-esteem movement in the US did not take root) and not just China.

Most US children have been told that if he or she can dream it, he or she will achieve that dream as if every child can become the next Tiger Woods, Bill Gates, a super star of some kind, or a future president of the US.

Then those American children with high false self-esteem turn 18 and reality bites, which may explain the high incidence of drug and alcohol use in the US.

Then there is Frankenstein of Humanitarianism — armed nation building where Western democracies are willing to start wars to create nations that will support the West’s concept of Humanitarianism. This mutated arm of Humanitarianism led to the Iraq and Afghan wars.

Return to The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 4

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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.

Leave a Comment » | America, American culture, China, Chinese Culture, cultural differences, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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