Chinese Economic Warfare

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-02/23/content_6478633.htm
US survey on Chinese economic clout disputed
By Qin Jize and Wang Zhenhua (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-02-23 09:35

Basic points from the article include:
~ 4 out f 10 Americans saw China as the world economic leader.
~ 33% chose the US as the world economic leader.
~ Most believed China will be the world's top economy in two decades.

The same survey conducted in 2000…
~ 65 percent chose the US as the world's economic leader.
~ More than half thought the US would remain the world's top economic in the next two decades.

~ Public opinion in the US about the Chinese economy has been misled by the Western media.
~ China's rapid growth has fostered the illusion that it could overtake the US as the global economic leader.
~ In China, the GDP growth for last year was 11.4 percent - the fastest in 13 years.

~ Uncertainty in the US is motivated by turbulence in financial markets, a weak dollar and worries over the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis.

~ The economic gap between China and the United States remains huge."

According to the World Bank:
#1: The US had the world's biggest economy with a GDP of $13.2 trillion
#2: Japan had the world’s second biggest economy with a GDP of $4.34 trillion
#3: Germany had the world’s third biggest economy with a GDP of 2.9 trillion
#4: China, had the world’s fourth biggest economy with a GDP of $2.7 trillion
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here in the United States, its becoming commonplace to hear rumblings about how China is catching up the United States in the globalization game. This article appears to assuage America’s discomfort at the idea that we are losing sole super-power status to our eastern neighbors. I’m inclined to consider the source. This article, written by The China Daily clashes with other sources that suggests that China, on a global scale, enjoys a GDP trailing uncomfortably close to our own economic power.

In the book, China – Fragile Superpower, there are comments from China that are lifted right out of Sun Tzu’s Art of War, a military book devoted to warfare and military strategy. Whether it feels like war or not, the art of economics is a type of warfare. The notion of economic warfare and the fact that Chinese leadership frequently makes reference to this book of war, suggest that this book is a very popular volume among Chinese leaders. It also underscores that when we consider globalization, China is playing for keeps. China is at war with the United States of America. Meanwhile, America is asleep at the wheel. Maybe in the bigger picture, who holds the #1 economic position in the global market doesn’t really matter. Maybe we feel uncomfortable in the United States because of history. We may be wrong. Maybe China genuinely does intend to continue to work as a responsible neighbor. I’m inclined to point out that Chinese leadership is two-pronged. There are some in the Chinese government who value a long-term, worldwide economic win-win model. Meanwhile, there are other Chinese leaders who believe that they can best distinguish themselves on the worldwide stage by poking at the sleeping tiger. I want to believe that China has found a new direction; that the mistakes they have made represented growing pains, and that China has transformed into something wonderful. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t help feeling suspicious. Part of that suspicion is fueled by how frequently Chinese leaders use rhetoric lifted right out of Sun Tzu’s Art of War.

Why would the Chinese leadership be so familiar with The Art of War…so familiar that the rhetoric from this book is interlaced in their speech. Clearly, they view economics as warfare. The Chinese art of economic war is somewhat disturbing when we consider some of the basic premises in The Art of War. I’ll make no further commentary. Just read through and if you’ll find yourself thinking, repeatedly…how it sounds and feels strangely familiar (like something you just read about China, or a speech written by a Chinese beaurocrat)

Some concepts from the Art of War:

~ In conflict, straightforward actions generally lead to engagement; surprising actions generally lead to victory.
~ Those skilled in war subdue the enemy without battle... They conquer by strategy.
~ What is of the greatest importance in war is extraordinary speed: One cannot afford to neglect opportunity.
~ If an enemy has alliances, the problem is grave and the enemy's position strong; if he has no alliances, the problem is minor and the enemy's position weak.
~ The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin.
~ All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
~ Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant
~ If he is in superior strength, evade him.
~ If his forces are united, separate them.
~ If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them.
~ Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
~ We have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
~ Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy... use the conquered foe to augment one's own strength.
~ The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.
~ Avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.

Year of the Rat Predictions

Raymond Lo - Feng Shui Consultant
Year of the Rat Predictions

Source Video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/02/07/intv.year.rat.prediction.lo.cnn?iref=videosearch

I Gotcha! So when they have nothing else to report, they invite this Feng Shui consultant on so he can give us his predictions. Am I the only shaking my head in disgust? I can't believe they actually gave this guy air-time at all! How incredibly insulting to their viewers. Why don't they just go to Toys-R-Us and buy one of those magic 8-balls? They can start a new segment on CNN called "ask the magic 8-ball" (shake, shake, shake...it says MAY BE...whoooo spooky).

I know when I need advice, I always rush to the nearest interior decorator for their expert opinion. I can think of few people more qualified than an interior decorator to dispense advice. In a pinch, you can always ask the pool-man, or you can ask your neighbors 10-year-old son who always has that dried crust of food encircling his mouth. They are not quite as reliable as the Raymond Lo - Feng Shui guy, but they're running a close second.

So what did our illustrious Feng Shui interior decorator predict for 2008 (the year of the rat)?

1. It is a new beginning
2. A lot of countries changing leadership
3. The young earth is like an iceberg melting in the heat.
4. Weather intensifying this year.
5. Year of rat has history of disaster... Flooding in Ohio Some disaster related to water Earth is weak Collapse of buildings Collapse of bridges
6. 2008 will be more calm than 2007
7. Overall, water will not be as optimistic as fire
8. Stock market will take a downturn in the fall of 2008
9. People should have more successful relationships in 2008

I reckon, at the end of the day, a fortune-telling Feng Shui Chinaman would come in handy. I'm gonna have to get one of 'em. They have all sorts of Chinese imports at WalMart - garments manufactured by slave labor, items manfactured in grotesque working environments that sicken the American companies who subsidize these facilities, toys for your kids painted with lead-based paint or toys for your kids that...when ingested, have the same chemicals you find in date rape drugs. You can buy all this wonderful stuff at WalMart.

I reckon I need to hop up there for a shopping spree, buy myself a fortune-tellin' chinaman. I bet I can buy one cheap. That would be great...to have my own Chinaman Feng Shui expert/interior designer/diviner. He could tell me which stocks to buy, I could have him read over all my contracts and advise me there, I could have him answer the phone and speak chinese to the telemarketers, I could have him perform bizarre ritualized Chinese torture against my enemies, and when he's not doing important magical tapping into the energy of the universe stuff, he can do my laundry, and tell me where to put this damned Ficus. It just doesn't work. It throws the energy of the room into complete chaos. I think I need another Ficus, and I should probably re-paint the walls yellow. I Wonder if I could get a package deal on chinamen. If I buy his wife too, I bet she does manicures and pedicures (don't they all). Mmmm...cushy foot massage and pedicure. That gives me another idea! I wonder if I could buy a Suiss Chocolatier at WalMart too?

It's all tongue-in-cheek. But shouldn't we expect more from our mainstream media. There's nothing more offensive than these cute little human interest nonsense time-wasters. They add insult to injury when their reporter sits there cackling through their ultrabright lumineer capped teeth, cackling, cackling, cackling away like they've just heard the most hilarious quip of their life. Laughter is a beautiful thing. Fake laughter is more repugnant than a $10 crack whore faking an orgasm.

Boycott Olympics in Beijing

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/olympic-committee-can-bring-positive-change-china-20071209

Olympic Committee can bring positive change in China
This article by Amnesty International maintains a hopeful undertone that the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will prove to be a catalyst for China to address human rights violations.

Amnesty Internation is hopeful that the Olympics will pursuade the Chinese Government to end violations like the ones shown here: http://photo.minghui.org/selected-En/u_persecution/212217836431.htm

I’m highly suspicious of this nonsense.
Amnesty International is wearing a blindfold.

The version of China visitors will see when they visit the Olympics makes me think of those novelty photo studios where they dress you in vintage clothing and work a little makup magic…and flash! Snap! Suddenly you’ve got a vintage collectible photo. Just because you look like a badass gunslinger and your wife is dressed like a stereotype saloon whore doesn’t mean you’re not still the squishy white doughboy you were before you put on a costume.

When the World Fair came to New Orleans, they gussied the whole town. Tourists were so thrilled to go to the World’s Fair site, steeped in cajun history (an absolute fraud) and then walk around the French Quarter (another smoke and mirrors fraud) and then go home with a warm fuzzy feeling that they had enjoyed a genuine cultural experience. Some tourists really do believe they’ve experienced the “real deal.” But realism and tourism make poor bedfellows.

When there are major events in New York City, the NYPD systematically gathers up the homeless people and CARTS THEM OFF!! There’s an old airfield way out in the middle of nowhere. The NYPD will grab these poor homeless guys and dump them off at that old abandoned airfield. If it’s freezing cold or blazing hot, it just doesn’t matter. There is no sympathy for the destitute in a world that loves the shiny crack of silver and gold more than it loves its own people.

When New York brass wants a spit-polish, they do what they need to do to maintain a temporary artificial shine. The same artificial shine will glow from Beijing.

The Olympic games don’t last very long. The Chinese government is aware that the Olympic games will be a boost to their economy, as well as giving them a chance to flex their muscles to the ooohs and ahhs around the world. So if China needs to release people who have been assigned “re-education through labour” and they need to officially “end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners,” they’ll do what they need to polish away any small divot that might tarnish the shine. If you want to visit a fantasy version of China, go to the Olympics.

If you want to experience the *real deal* up-close and personal, here's a quick 5-step plan:

1. borrow a couple of pictures from this website: http://www.faluninfo.net/torturemethods2

2. Now take your borrowed pictures and blow them up to make 20” x 30” posters.

3. Take your posters and stand along the main road heading towards the Olympic games.

4. Hold your posters high in the air. Yell and wave your posters at passing traffic.

5. In about 2-3 minutes, you will experience authentic Chinese culture. It'll probably hurt A LOT! But it will be real and it's sooo worth it.

Boycott the Olympic Games!

Boycott Torture!

BOYCOTT CHINA!

Shout!

and when you add it all together
and when you roll it in a ball
and when you watch another pyramid
as it's about to fall
remember you were there
remember if you care
all those who held their ground
when it all came down
said shout shout

(Devo, shout)

Today’s China appears, on the surface, to be a thriving economy. In fact, at first glance China appears to be edging the United States out of our #1 status in the world economy. But China’s glamorous economic center-spread is just as artificial as those Sports Illustrated airbrush models. It’s a beautiful faḉade.

There are several factors in China that make me skeptical. First, we already know that China has a history of being less than honest with their record-keeping. If you’ll lie to yourself, you won’t even flinch when you pass the lie along to the rest of the world.

A bum we pull off the street wearing an Armani suit is still a bum. Sure, with a little dress and polish, we can probably pull a Pygmalian and pass him off among the aristocracy. But that image isn’t sustainable for any length of time because it isn’t real.

You gotta hand it to the Chinese. They maintain a great poker-face. But even a great poker-face doesn’t make up for a lousy hand, now does it?
Second, China uses slave labor in order to get an economic boost on their global competitors. This gives China a significant advantage because the rest of the world has no choice. They MUST actually PAY for their labor. For any operation, labor costs are one of the most significant expenses. The problem with the current Chinese model is that the advantage they boast is also not sustainable. Short-term, the slavery-model is producing unprecedented returns (go figure). But the guys cracking the whips might wanna take a few weeks of vacation and read about things like economics and world history.

Their model is doomed to fail. It will implode. The current Chinese model ignores the very core rules of economics. The #1 rule is that money must move in order to sustain any economy. Globally, China *is* moving money. But back at home, their economy is flat-lining.

As mentioned above, slavery simply doesn’t work. As worldwide demand increases for *cheap* products from China, supply lines will be stretched thin trying to keep up with this increasing demand. China will be forced to respond by, ahem, enslaving more people (ie, arresting more people for minor offenses so they can man those sweatshops with free labor). Historically, there is a breaking point. The people will put up with some abuse. The real question we should be asking is how many disenfranchised Chinese does it take to finally break the camel’s back?

All it takes is one little turtle named Mack…and a burp. And the whole thing comes crashing down.

Sun Wukong, The Monkey King

Sun Wukong, The Monkey King

Let’s face it, this monkey king character is kinda creepy, especially the clip where this freakish thing has that disturbing cackling, insanity-laden laugh. This strange hero would give my kids nightmares. So China’s great heroic figure was a psychotic monkey who waged war on heaven. Am I the only one here who’s befuddled by this creepy monkey-hero?

And now for the serious part of the blog:

This particular passage stood out from Gittings: “The journalist Liu Binyan wrote a fictionalized report, ‘On the Bridge Sit’, showing how a disaster was caused while officials waited for ‘higher instruction’ instead of taking decisions during an emergency. Liu was labelled a rightist. So was the young engineer who dared to make decisions on his own and provied the model for Liu’s story.” (Gittings, p. 49)

For me, the big red flag is the SARS scare back in 2002-3. I remember following that story. The whole world stood aghast that China had failed to report the disease to the world health organization. Their failure put the entire global community at risk. Personally, I just rolled my eyes at the time. I scoffed…China! That was pretty much the end of my commentary. These military wax figures in their ironed uniforms and their dead doll eyes made a few announcements. I grew up bouncing from one military to the base. I knew the drill. You get a face-man to act as a go-between. The face-man is always some guy who looks like one of those old-fashioned GI JOE dolls, fresh out of the box. They’re trained in non-verbal communication. That means they are trained to control their non-verbals as well as the vomitous spewing from their fetid lips. They have to control those non-verbals. There are people who watch those non-verbals like they’re reading a book. So those wax figures say what they want us to hear, divulging nothing more. But then they made a mistake. This woman from the CDC comes on to give us the low-down. She’s a scientist, not an expert in communications. She was the most nervous twittering thing I’ve ever seen. SARS scared the hell out of this woman. Her mouth said, “We’ve got it under control.” But her body was screaming aloud, run for hills! Run for the hills! We’re all gonna die! I have to admit, that nervous little woman scared the hell out of me. So I gathered up all the data I could find. It was alarming. According to the rate of transmission, SARS had the potential to kill every man, woman and child on the planet THREE TIMES over in a period of six months.

So I was livid at those slacker Chinese who played craps with the entire world community. And here I am, several years later reading this piece by Liu Binyan about “how a disaster was caused while officials waited for “higher instruction” instead of taking decisions during an emergency.”

And I reckon since Dr. Anderson did specifically say we should look at the RSS feeds, it’s only fitting that I should add something to my blog that complies with his suggestion.

http://www.fool.com/investing/international/2008/01/25/todays-strong-buys-international-edition.aspx

This particular article is one of those boring investment articles. Let’s face it, investment is specifically about taking the money you’ve got and turning it into more money. Now how boring is that? There were a few things that jumped out and punched me in the eye. The most obvious assault was that fact that the international stock they mention, with a whopping 63% RETURN!! I’m not a stock juggler. However, the remarkable return is significant because it underscores that China is quickly becoming a powerful economic entity in the global economy. It also forces me to consider how they achieve such a high return. I’ve already moaned about the use of forced slave labor. Stock values are calculated by return on investment. Obviously, if consumer goods are produced using free labor, the margins are going to be larger. However, there is still an undertone of instability. I can’t put my finger on it yet, but something is rotten in Denmark. I’m always suspicious of artificial economics. Right now, China is leaping forward in the global economy. But artificial economics have imploded on every artificial structure with which I am familiar throughout the entire course of human history. If I had to make a wager, I would guess that China is going to enjoy a quick burst of energy which will find equilibrium when the whole thing implodes. Artificial economics is cocaine. At first, it’s great, great, great. You feel larger-than-life invincible. But the inevitable crash is so *not* worth it. Unfortunately, there is no 12-step program. I reckon they’ll just have to white-knuckle it through the crash. No doubt, American soothsayer-carpetbaggers will be there to exploit, er, help them out of their dire crisis.

Nah. I changed my mind. Exploitation! The protein power-bar of choice for American economic body-builders worldwide. If your country is feeling exploited, there’s an American involved somewhere. Americans are gluttonous larvae. We’ll feast on any carcass until nothing but a rotted shell remains.