Fili’s world

(This is the third and last part to a post started here and continued here)

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After the speech by the Chinese ambassador and the big shots from the US and China it was time for the Israeli team to take over and start all the fun.

First up was a person I would love to take classes with anytime and who seemed like a very special person. Professor Yitzhak Shichor came up to the stand and won me over instantly (note to self - read some of his articles).

He started off with saying things that were exactly my thoughts, and he said it with great clarity, charm and lots of humor in a speech I termed as "America/West Bashing":

1. No body really understands China, "especially me". We, the west, keep doing the same mistake of evaluating the Chinese through our standards which don't apply.
2. Every lecturer comes up to the stand and bombs us poor listeners with endless information and problematic interpretations, and all we can think about is "what does it means for us" or "how does it influences us" instead of trying to see things through their eyes and to listen to what they're saying.
3. The west, especially the US, has reinvented the Chinese threat since the US needed a new threat and there's the chance of a "self fulfilling prophecy" happening.
4. Referring to "China" as one entity is a real problem and probably a mistake. True, they have a centralized government, but the size - the diversity of people and the complexity of China is as bad as the European Union if not more than that, and no body does the mistake of referring to the European countries as "Europe".
5. Unlike the western powers the Chinese have always had regional interest and have never gone beyond that. It was always the west that was looking to colonize and expand, but Chinese history has shown that of all great nations, the Chinese weren't interested in expanding onto their neighbors.
6. The west has high hopes for a change in China in that the new economy and the technology will make the Chinese more democratic and accepting of the western systems of government. That's just rubbish, China has never been so Communist in their entire history, and they're even more Communist now then in Mao's time, since at least in Mao's time there was at least opposition and debate (which was a threat to Mao and then crushed by the people, but it always surfaced). Technology only means more control for the communist party than there ever was before.
7. A rise in wealthy middle class? Hope for rebellion and change in social classes? Nope. The uprising Chinese middle class doesn't care about freedom, all they care about is maintaining the same economical growth, same as is happening in Singapore.
8. China isn't a partner in the UN and the WTO - it's just participating. China has the veto right yet it hasn't used it in any of the critical situations. China doesn't use its power, it's trying not to upset anyone.
9. The problem in the US-China relations is the US and not China. The US has an interest in China as a threat. The US is a threat as US is aggressive and the only nation to dare use nuclear weapon. In the 70-80s China-US relations was great. The two nations shared good friendship against the "Russian threat". The term "Chinese threat" only came at 1991 with the big riot crush (word avoided so this site won't be blocked to the Chinese :P) was a big blow to the American naivety misunderstanding the Chinese values. And, ofcourse, the US didn't need China against Russia any more.
10. It's a fact, especially around Asia, that economical growth doesn't lead to democracy, if not the opposite.
11. It's a self fulfilling prophecy for the Chinese. When you mention China as a threat, the Chinese start considering that the west is a threat and as a result 30 billion dollars are spent by Chinese on arms, which is still nothing compared to the 400 billion spent by the Americans..
12. Chinese are extremely clever with how they deal with the US. Chinese buying loads of American bills, funding what the careless Americans spend.
13. China could have been democratic. In 1911 there was a real chance for China to become a democratic republic but no nation supported the Chinese democracy because of political interests. It was easier for the US to deal with dictators. American hypocrisy.

Next up, Aharon Shay of the History department:

1. This isn't the first time that this is happening with China. It happened in the past with the Opium wars.
2. The Chinese values are a lot stronger than we could ever grasp in the west, and this might bring this whole economical growth down at some point. Values may bring China to do things against their own wellbeing.
3. As was said in the Far-east conference in Tel-Aviv (the part I didn't get to review) - comparing China and India economically, India seems to be a much more promising nation..
4. One of the main reasons for the economical state and economical strength in China has to do with "having" HK and Taiwan. Even so, it will take China many decades to arrive at a level where it can really threaten the US.
5. China is feeling threatened by the US, since the measures the US are taking confirms the Chinese fears. Instead of fighting China, China needs to be reassured and comforted.

All in all - a very interesting seminar about the Chinese situation. 

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