Shallow Scholars and Parroty Journalists

 A good friend in Melbourne suggested that I sign up to watch a Taiwan-Australia Dialogue organised by the University of Melbourne’s Asialink on 30 July. I promptly did.

It was moderated by Colin Haseltine. The panel from Taiwan comprised Paul Kuoboug Chang, former head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel-Aviv, Dr Fu-Kuo Liu, director of Taiwan Centre for Security Studies, Dr Mignonne Chan, deputy director of Taiwan Centre for Security Studies and Dr I Yuan, Adjunct Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University.

One of the Australian speakers was Dr Sow Keat Tok. I would assume that his family name is Tok, judging from the Australians’ nomenclature on names.

In public, Chinese thinkers and scholars cannot usually articulate well in English, these speakers from Taiwan were no exception. But I must say their arguments and messages reflect the views of many in Taiwan who are genuinely concerned about the island’s future. They were quite unhappy with their President Lai Ching-te’s way of managing the cross-strait relationship. Mignonne Chan could not be more blunt when she said that China’s “One China, Different Systems” was simply the best win-win situation for both sides of the strait.

I was looking for a robust response from the Australian side. Prof Hugh White of the Australian National University was a little tentative, nonetheless, he was asking the right leading questions, which helped to generate some very insightful replies from the members of the Taiwan panel.

Alas, when Tok was invited to speak, I could tell from his English that he must have hailed from my “kampung” (i.e., a fellow Malaysian). I was totally dismayed by the shallowness of his knowledge and felt like leaving the webinar half-way through. Nonetheless, I stayed on until he finished. He was talking like a typical China-hating western journalist!

He was parroting what the western media wants us to believe about China’s economy. Earlier this year, they were celebrating that the Chinese economy was in serious trouble, thanks to high youth unemployment and the collapse of real estate there, blah, blah, blah. Tok is repeating these lines again! He also argued that Xi Jinping’s reform efforts were meant to prop up CCP’s legitimacy and personal pursuit of his fourth term in China. What a load of rubbish! He reminds me of a lecture given by a certain ANZ economist in the same university a couple of months ago, which I have written dismissively earlier in my blog. He contended that the trajectory of Chinese economic growth was no different from that of Japan; nothing exceptional.

Sure, China’s economy did look grim last year. But the context must be understood. Why did youth employment spike? Why did the real estate sector seem to go into a tailspin? Did these armchair analysts really understand the reasons. I am afraid not. The government is always on its toes; many of its short-term pains were results of its attempt to transform and the real estate ill was a case in point. And much of the exceptionalism we are seeing in China today is a consequence of the relentless efforts by the US and its allies to retard China. They help spur China’s homegrown champions like Huawei and universities to make breakthroughs that seem impossible in the western lenses. Thousands, hitherto naturalized to become citizens in the US and in Europe, have also returned to China because of the discrimination they are experiencing in these adopted countries.

Back to Tok. I do not mean to be insulting; his use of the acronym CCP clearly demonstrates that he does not quite know the proper name for the governing party in China, which is the Communist Party of China, or CPC. CCP is usually used by western or pro-west journalists to give the Chinese government a certain baggage – a subtle Stalinist association of suppression, totalitarianism and what-have-you, instead of a party that is legitimately and popularly governing China. (Which “democratic” government in the world has an approval rating that is higher than CPC’s?)

I also read an article written by a certain Tan Chee Meng of the University of Nottingham Malaysia published in the Asia Times on 3 August. The title of the article is: China needs to pick a side, and it just might pick the West (https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/china-needs-to-pick-a-side-and-it-just-might-pick-the-west/.) Just because Russia has signed a peace treaty with North Korea, the author talks as if Russia is deserting China. And Russia is losing the war in Ukraine and China needs to press Russia to sue for peace with Ukraine. And he also repeats the same western narrative that “China has been reeling from a real estate crisis, a volatile stock market, a massive 288% debt-to-GDP ratio, as well as high youth unemployment. He seems to observe that Chinese government bond prices soared from increasing demand, suggesting that investors are seeking safer investment alternatives as confidence in the Chinese economy remains low. He further argues that “a battered economy isn’t the only problem the Chinese government faces. It has traditionally employed economic performance to legitimize its rule. So given the poor economic climate, Beijing needs to jump-start its ailing economy to maintain power.”

Does it read like those you have been reading in the western and pro-West press during the last couple of months? I have taken the liberty to produce some of his readers’ comments in the Appendix below.

Why am I singling out people like Tok and Tan for criticism?

The colour of their skin gives non-Chinese readers or viewers that they know China well and can speak authoritatively on China. The truth is this: These are the very western educated Chinese who want to show that they are more western intellectually than their kinsmen. They stereo-type opinions and reinforce the west’s prejudice against China on geopolitical issues.

Singapore’s Channel News Asia (CNA) also often invites academics to comment on “China versus the world” matters. Several of them are teaching in the local universities, mostly mid-level scholars. I could see that that they were originally from China and perhaps because of their anxiousness to shed their China-born identity or image and show that they were impartial in their views, their comments tended to be somewhat negative with regards to China’s stances in the dispute or issue in question.

The former category should visit China more often and read materials that are produced by thinkers and scholars who do not harbour any prejudice against any party. Two names deserve my highest level of respect: Columbia’s Jeffrey Sachs and a former senior minister in the Singapore government, George Yeo. Sachs is his in-depth knowledge of the history of issue and his fearlessness to call spade a spade. Yeo, like Sachs, has an encyclopedia knowledge about countries and their constituents. He knows many world leaders in person. But he is a diplomat extraordinaire. His warnings are always couched in words of wisdom; even the people his messages were intended for will have difficulty in disagreeing with what he has said. (Kishore Mahbubani is also a popular speaker. However, he is often viewed as a China apologist. Much he opined is not without foundation, but I tend to have this feeling when it comes to his speeches on China: You hear one, you hear all.)

There are in fact many objective analysts and commentators on China issues in many parts of the world. Some of them are American and they often podcast from China. Several are of South Asian ethnicity, and they are in think tanks and universities. Taiwan has literally created a podcast streaming industry out of some ten to twenty popular thinkers there – academics, ex-diplomat, financial experts, ex-senior military figures, etc. The host is usually a very smooth-talking young man or woman presenter who will outline issues of the day and invite his or her panel to comment. They, in my opinion, can rival any world-class scholar in terms of insights and knowledge about the issues of the day. But I suspect people like Tok are quite oblivious to their existence.

Now on the western and pro-West media:

Many journalists and reporters in our region tend to report or speak like western reporters. Many of them are ethnically Chinese. South China Morning Post’s reporting on China vis-à-vis its neighbours and the west largely reflect their negative opinions of China’s stances. (However, I must say that their knowledge of the developments in Chinese science and technology is pretty solid and objective.) I also observe a similar phenomenon with some reporters and journalists in Singapore.  

I can understand their TV channels’ news readers; they must read what they are given. And also their papers, where they have to reproduce articles from Reuters, Bloomberg, etc wholesale. However, for those reporters or journalists who are based in Beijing, they need to come up with facts they see on the ground, and not parrot what the west has been reporting or has written. I took exception of the way Olivia Xiong is presenting developments in China. Her tone often reflects her doubt over what she hears from the official spokesmen in China. I still remember when the US had already admitted that the Chinese balloon they shot down over their sky was indeed a weather balloon, she still used the term “Chinese spy balloon” to describe it. Another one who reports on business shows similar attitude when the matter or issue is about China. If they are less western-centric in their mindset, I believe their opinions will be more respected by readers.

Anyone one who bothers to put on his or her thinking cap when he or she reads or listens will know much of the stuff said by the west about China is designed to hobble China. Imagine, there is even double standard in the doping tests that is being practised on Chinese athletes in the Olympics today! Do these Chinese sportsmen and sportswomen want to cheat, knowing that their blood or urine sample cannot survive the rigorousness of the modern laboratories? Certainly not.

The reality is this: their coaches have long believed in traditional oriental medicine; unfortunately, many of these concoctions contain parts of both living things and inorganic substances that have traces of prohibited elements!

Thanks to the reporters from the west, particularly the US, these Chinese sportsmen and sportswomen are now made to be seen like suspected criminals.

Journalists in our region should remind themselves that they owe their society a duty to be more wholesome in their reporting.

The 100-metre free style is the bluest of blue-ribbon event in Olympics and in Paris, Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle has won the gold medal in the men’s 100m freestyle with a world record-breaking 46.40 seconds. An Australian coach went to the extent of saying that the feat was not humanly possible. You know the basis of his skepticism. I hope people like Tok and Tan and Xiong do not share this Australia’s coach’s insinuation.

 

* * * * *

Appendix

Some readers’ comments on Tan Chee Meng’s Asia Times article (as they appeared; unedited):

- Lots of nonsense. First of all, there’s no way that Russia loses the war. It has already gained all the territory it sought. Secondly, China is not going to ally with the US and EU, with both not only economic rivals, but emerging enemies.

- This article is the most ridiculous piece of wishful thinking and misinformation I have seen for years. I don’t know what CM Tan was smoking but to say China will join the West that have invaded and colonized and oppressed her for centuries is silly. BRICS and SCO and the Global South are the future, not the colonists of the past.

- smoking weeds article.

- wishful thinking post – china is economically, industrially, militarily [except for the no of nukes], diplomatically, financially etc etc the most powerful country in the world now and it doesnt have to pick a side – and if anything its the US that needs to pick a side between cooperating or not with china just to survive the self-inflicted, coming economic, social and financial carnage – moreover only fools believe russia has some nefarious design on europe but it would be fair that europe has been extremely threatening, aggressive and hostile towards russia …

- Are you kidding me? China is the world’s largest economy. Biden wants to destroy that. If Russia falls, China will be next.

- Why is Asia Times publishing this? If Russia loses that will be the end of everything. Putin has promised nuclear Armageddon if Russia is defeated. Ukraine must be defeated and Russia objectives attained; demilitarization, denazification and neutralization of Ukraine. China will never abandon Russia, BRICS+ and SCO, that is just Western willful ignorance and arrogance. China prioritizes its security concerns over its economy. No more humiliation.

The Sudden Collapse of The Biden Puppetry

 

Joe Biden has finally agreed to quit his re-election pursuit. I, for one, am not celebrating. Biden could have become a great American president, but instead he chose a foreign policy trajectory that effectively made him the most inept American president in modern history.

By November 2020, Donald Trump had proved himself largely to be a charlatan especially in the way he handled the COVID19 pandemic and the way he had initiated and conducted the trade war with China. Naturally, Biden looked better and went on to win the election. Trump’s repeated attempts to manipulate some key states’ election results and the January 6 US Capital Attack made him a laughingstock both in and outside America.

With the seemingly warm friendship both Xi and Biden had struck when they were both vice presidents of their respective countries, China was hoping that Biden would unwind the damage that Trump had caused to the relationship. Alas, the first act of Biden proved to the harbinger of what would follow.

Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan met China’s Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi in Anchorage, Alaska in March, two months after Biden’s inauguration. Blinken’s message was delivered in the most condescending way, which prompted Yang to sternly rebut him with “We Chinese do not eat the kind of stuff you are offering”. The sentiments and tones paved the way of China-US relationship under the Biden administration.

Besides Blinken and Sullivan, Biden unleased several other attack dogs: Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, Defense Secretary Llyod Austin, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Trade Representative Katherine Tai and US Ambassador to Beijing Nicholas Burns. They attacked China relentless on all fronts. And any undertaking made by Biden after he had spoken with Xi will be blatantly disregarded the next day.

Instead of improving the livelihood of its people and coopting China to rebuild its country’s aging infrastructure and advance science and technology, Biden was totally consumed in creating an unholy alliance to retard China. And they have a convenient and willing stooge: the DPP of Taiwan.

Over the past four years, Biden and his attack dogs have proved themselves to be no better than a bunch of nincompoops in world politics. Saudi Arabia, hitherto the anchor of US Dollar’s supremacy, even saw fit to rebuff Biden. So are many other parts of the Global South, despite America’s attempt to equate China’s helping hand as debt traps. Two straws broke the camel’s back for good: (a) the Ukraine war, and (b) Israel’s out-of-proportion punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza. The facts are open for all to see; only shallower scholars will argue that the former was all Putin’s doing, and the latter, Netanyahu should be allowed to wipe out Hamas – two causes which the Americans were generally led to advocate.

All the writing was already on the wall that Biden would lose the November re-election. Notwithstanding, his hoodlums would continue to have the world believe that things would remain as usual. Until his June 27 debate with Trump in Atlanta. All hell broke loose after that. (Biden was obviously debating without his usual dose of neurological Viagra. His true form was revealed for all to see – a pathetic old man struggling to speak coherently. Trump was not that great, but an outright winner, nonetheless.)

Just days after the debate – in early July – Biden was made to host the NATO Summit in Washington. His hoodlums were still in a state of denial, threatening Russia and China with all sorts of military hard talks. You can understand the stances of NATO’s European members. They needed to suck up to Biden as long as he was still the President. But you cannot understand the silliness of Japan’s Kishida and South Korea’s Yoon, who still clung on to Biden’s tights as if he was their only saviour. And Ukraine’s entertainer extraordinaire Zelensky was still asking for Biden for permission to hit Russian bases during the summit. Wasn’t it obvious that Biden’s puppet troupe was already crumbling?

The puppeteers behind him were also working overtime to exhibit him on stage. They had to stall Trump, lest they will soon be out of job.

For months, Biden’s condition was there for all to see. But somehow people were also conditioned to believe that he could run. I put the blame squarely on the press corps covering the White House. They were helping to cover up as much as they could!

We all know that Kamala Harris is his anointed replacement in the November election. Harris says she is going to expose Trump – something that she knows best since she has been a public prosecutor before. But let’s be real. Trump triumphs even though his body is full of dirt; will any extra ounce make any difference?

Many are aghast with the decision. Biden had to drop out because he was considered by the backers to be no longer winnable. Logically, they needed to bring out someone who hopefully could turn the tide. But Harris’s record is so dismally poor. How can she help the Democrats in November?

This is the tyranny of status quo in American politics.

One needs to have a lot of money if you want to go big in politics in America. You must have backers who have deep pockets. (There are exceptions, of course, Barack Obama is a case in point.) There were in fact many good candidates, but they had no choice but to settle for Harris, lest the war chest would go missing.

Pseudo intellectuals in CNN, New York Times and Washing Post knew that too, so they must give everyone the impression that the race is a tight one and Harris does stand a chance. It was all self-deceiving and ostrich-like.

I don’t like Trump, for we all know he was all fakes. But in America, it is all “monkeys see and monkeys do”. When some of his brainless supporters saw he was wearing an ear bandage after the shooting incident, they also put on one to show empathy with him! Nuts really!

But Harris is so colourless. She had been Biden’s vice president, but nobody really knows what she has been doing. A wall flower through and through. If she gets elected, Harris is likely to continue what Biden has been doing for the three years. The Deep State will be very happy!

But she is for certain not going to be elected. Trump will triumph in November.

And this has finally awakened the world.

Everyone is now asking: What should I do?

Zelensky knows Trump is not going to give him even a dime. Without money, he knows his forces will collapse overnight. NATO knows Trump does not care two hoods about them. Pay if you want us to protect you. Kishida and Yoon are totally clueless now, so is Marcos Jr. You can safely bet that the US is not going to give any help to the Filipinos if they do anything silly against China in the South China Sea. And Yoon can scream until he breaks his vocal cord. Trump admires Kim Jong Un, but it is a one-way love affair. Kim says he will give Trump his middle finger. What can Trump do?

Ditto on Taiwan, Trump does not care a damn about William Lai and DPP. If a war were to break out, so be it. It is China and Taiwan’s problem!

What next?

NATO will struggle to remain relevant, let alone its ambition to “pivot” to Asia to contain China. Jens Stoltenberg, its secretary-general, is outright delusional. Besides Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, who in Pacific Asia is going to allow that? (Exception being the Philippines, maybe.)

France’s Macron and Germany’s Scholz, who keep insisting on shooting their own feet when it comes to trade and tariff issues with China. So is EU’s dumb blonde Ursula von der Leyen whom Trump would certainly not hug when he assumes office.

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni is cleverer. She read the writing on the wall early. And I believe UK’s prime minister is also smarter. Even Canda’s juvenile prime minister Trudeau has dispatched his foreign minister to see Wang Yi.

Zelensky had also sent his foreign minister to see Wang Yi. I suppose he wants President Xi to whisper into Putin’s ear to go easy on him. And remember, just a couple of months ago, he was still barking at Beijing for refusing to attend his Peace Summit and accusing China of enabling Russia economically and maybe also militarily to fight him.

And Blinken is now seeing Wang Yi in Vientiane. (ASEAN countries are meeting there.) He doesn’t want to end up as another Mike Pompeo. Spare me from your sanctions list after January next year, please. I need a job! He is going to quietly ask Wang Yi for a favour.

The Arabs are a very enlightened lot now. After the Iran-Saudi Arabia thaw, all the Palestinians factions have suddenly appeared in Beijing to make amends and move forward together. Remember Saudia Arabia and Iran also went to Beijing to shake hands? (For centuries, the Shias and Sunnis have been sworn enemies. Who elses could pull such a feat? Yet, the western world is accusing China of genocide against Muslims in China! The West only loves Chinese Muslims, not other Muslims, I suppose.)

The scholars and thinkers in Taiwan are lamenting this phenomenon: China has done Chinese all over the world proud of the good work it has done to the world – in so many parts of Africa, Latin and South America, South and Southeast Asia, Pacific islands, etc, yet you have a DPP in Taiwan that is so hostile to China even though they are ethnically Chinese!

Chinese economy will suffer under Trump’s heavy hands, but their 吃苦chīkǔ (literally “eat bitter” – preparedness to endure extreme hardships or sufferings) spirit will propel them ahead. As for the Americans, they will have to live with these facts of life: emptier supermarket shelves and heavier cost of living.)

The world is changing fast!

I wrote some time ago about a book written by someone who studied the lifespans of empires. The average is said to be 250 years. The US is 248 years old now. It is about time for it to self-implode! Thanks to Biden.

End

The Zombies and Ostriches at Firefly

Since January, I have been using Firefly to go to Singapore almost on a weekly basis. The choice is a no-brainer.

My apartment at Saujana Resort is only 10 minutes’ drive from Subang Airport, where Firefly is based. The distance from the baggage search point to Immigration and to the plane is, maybe, two hundred metres. When you arrive in Singapore’s Seletar Airport, you can be in a taxi heading to the city in ten minutes.

Subang Airport also has a lounge where holders of certain bank cards or MH’s Enrich cards can also use before their flights. It offers good nasi-lemak and good coffee. Unfortunately, there are no lounge facilities at the Seletar end; the food and drinks at its only café are also only so-so.

Firefly uses turboprop ATR aircraft for its services. The seats are pretty narrow, and cooler air can only be felt after the aircraft has ascended to a certain altitude. It serves a bottle of water and a small packet of peanuts and a packet of Famous Amos cookies. The ride can be rough at times since these low-flying aircraft are vulnerable to poor weather conditions. I suppose the pilots are all trained and certified and I usually took the turbulence well.

The fares are not cheap, though. I have to pay between RM750 and RM1,200 for each set of return tickets. Firefly certainly knows how to make suckers out of travelers like me.

A couple of recent incidents have prompted me to pen this blog to share my unhappiness with friends about this airline.

On Thursday, June 20, I presented myself at Firefly’s check-in counter for my FY3131 Seletar to Subang. I was in Singapore for a day trip and as such only carried a small document bag. The young officer at the counter must be averse to a bald old man with a walking cane. She directed that I have my bag weighed! I thought it was ridiculous; I have never been asked to do so in my entire flying experience and naturally expressed my displeasure. The whole bag was maybe a kilo or so in weight. She mumbled something quite irritatingly. I did comply but I also lodged a complaint against her to the officers at the service desk nearby. I just wanted them to tell the young lady to be more courteous or thoughtful to older folks like me and more consistent with they way they talk about SOPs. The officers appeared nonchalant. I served notice that I would make a formal written complaint. (Incidentally, I believed I paid for the highest tier of tickets for the trip.) 

If it was an SOP, then I would certainly comply. However, I saw that none of the subsequent passengers were asked to weigh their backpacks, some of which looked quite heavy. I took some pictures of them.

I lost no time in lodging a complaint through Firefly’s website.

What I received was on June 24 most ridiculous. I was addressed as Madam TEH Saw Hwa! That is my wife’s name! I was the passenger. And I clearly spelled out my name in Firefly’s electronic form where I also furnished my Enrich details – address, telephone number, etc! It was signed off by a certain Siti Nur Syazana of Firefly Customer Relations. There was no way I could reply to correct her.

Another reply came on June 29. Sorry we are still investigating! Again, I was addressed as Mrs TEH Saw Hwa, and the email was signed by a certain Fatin Nurain of Malaysia Airlines’ Customer Relations.

Yet another reply came on July 4, again signed by Fatin Nurain. Similar message: Working towards a full resolution, blah, blah, blah. Again, I was addressed as Mrs TEH Saw Hwa.

Its “full” resolution came on July 12, again addressed to Mrs TEH Saw Hwa, and signed by the same Fatin Nurain and copied to a certain Manninder Singh Manmohan Singh.

This time I blew my top and wrote to blast them.

She was telling me that her colleague in the check-in counter was following SOP! I replied that she was talking rubbish!

In the first place, the complainant was ME and not my wife. How could their record get it so wrong? And I also sent her pictures to show that the other passengers were not asked to follow SOP. SOP had to be applied consistently!

I have not received any response from her or her colleague since then.

There might be a bigger can of worms in Firefly’s way of keeping records.

In a separate incident in April, only on reaching Seletar was I told that my Firefly flight had been cancelled and I had to go to Changi Airport to catch a Malaysian Airline flight back. I was entitled to reimbursements for out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result. I wrote in to submit my claim. And believe me, I was addressed as Mrs TEH Saw Hwa by the same Siti Nur Syazana. Somehow, I managed to speak to her, and she confirmed that the mistake had been corrected.

Two months later, I still got to be addressed as Mrs TEH Saw Hwa!

Firefly would ask passengers to respond to their survey after each flight. For months, its response button for this purpose was not working. I suppose no one in Firefly was monitoring it. I told their officers at both the Seletar and Subang ends about this, but no one seemed to care. (I see that it has finally been fixed. Why it took so long?)

* * * * *

 

An Opportunity China Might Have Missed…

Donald Trump is now the Republicans’ official candidate. His pick as running mate is J D Vance, a young lawyer who is well-known for his anti-China stances. Tyranny of status quo has allowed a semi-demented Joe Biden to walk to Democrats’ finished line only to be stopped from crossing it. (At times Biden is surprisingly loud and lucid on stage, thanks probably to the neurological "Viagra" that has been administered just before he is made to appear.) They might come up with a new nominee, but no matter who he or she is, it is a little too late. It looks like Trump will win the election in November. And the momentum he has built up will also allow the Republicans to carry both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Democrats only have themselves to blame. He is going to be the Sun-Emperor of the United States of America!

Trump, erratic as he may be, is likely to retain these traces in his behaviour and actions:

1.    I am the emperor. No one stands equal to me. Narendran Modi, please know your place. (He does not like fake saints!)

2.    UN, WHO, WTO, ICJ and other international organisations are totally irrelevant to him.

3.    You want me to help, you MUST pay. No buddy-buddy favours. NATO, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, please take note.

The single person whom he will least tolerate is President Xi Jinping of China, who he sees is his greatest challenge to his sense of majesty. Regardless of consequences and practicality, he will impose tall tariffs to deny Chinese goods entry into America. He is a Qianlong in reverse.

Be that as it may, China probably knows all this and must brace itself for the new geopolitical realities.

A massive global IT outage started on Thursday. Cyber-security firm CrowdStrike’s Falcon software update paralysed its Microsoft Windows platform system. At this point of writing, it is still not out of the woods yet. It affects airlines, banking, healthcare, and other services. China does not use it and therefore is not affected.

China should have used this window to bring Taiwan back to its fold!

What a waste!

Why do I advocate this?

If Taiwan is back to the fold of China, China can very much do without America. Yes, its economy will suffer for a couple of years. And yes, America is a big market for its products, but Trump is going to choke it anyway.

Trump is a proud man. Unlike Biden who rallies all his hoodlums to deny China of technologies and encourages even companies like TSMC to invest in America or simply relocate anywhere as long as they are not in China, Trump is unlikely going to do that. Americans must produce the products themselves and not anywhere but in the soils of America, not even in Mexico. (He looks down on Hispanics!)

Why do I describe him as a Qianlong in reverse?

George Macartney led a British mission to the Qing court in 1793. He wanted principally to persuade China to open new ports for British trade in China and to allow the establishment of a permanent embassy in Beijing. They met the Qianlong Emperor, who thought China had nothing to learn or gain from the West. He turned down the British requests. The rest is history. China suffered more than a hundred years of humiliation later on.

America is already in decline. The strengths of America used to lie in their ability to attract the best brains from all over the world, significantly those of Chinese immigrants and students. Save for the Civil War (1861-65) no wars were fought on American soil.

If a hot war were to be fought, America should not think their country will be spared. Russia and China are capable of returning America a favour if it acts the way it talks.

China, hold your head high and Trump will back off, like what Kim Jong Un has done it to Trump during his first term.  

Maybe there is another opportunity come November?

End

The Picture Speaks A Thousand Words

 

Britain’s New Government – Which Lane will it be Taking?

Myanmar must have got the most ridiculous driving system in the world. Its cars are mainly the right-hand drive varieties, yet, they have to drive on the right-hand side of the road. Try it out yourself and see how awkward the experience can be for you. I thought the world is also shaping up this way. 

* * * * * * * * *
61-year-old Keir Starmer has become the UK’s new prime minister. His Labour Party commands a solid majority. We all know Labour carried the country not because it was hugely popular but because, like everywhere in the world where hope for the incumbents has fast faded, it is a case of “let’s give the other party a chance to see if they can do better” hope!

Boris Johnson plunged the UK’s stock into deep ravine. His strong advocacy for Brexit was really not a bad idea. But he screwed up his country. On one hand, he pretended to be “professional” (on Huawei as a case in point); on the other, he tried to bootlick Donald Trump, when the latter clearly thought he was not in his league. We can see how the pseudo leaders in the EU are wrecking Europe’s fortune today. By abdicating their sovereignty over trade matters, Germany and France are forced to go along with some of the silliest policies just because Ursula von Leyen wants to please Joe Biden (or the Deep State in the US).

His successor Liz Truss must be the dumbest blonde Britain has ever produced. She had absolutely no idea about economics. Naturally, she could last only a couple of weeks. (Incidentally, she was not able to keep her seat in the recent election.) As if the Tories were determined to be booted out, they voted Rishi Sunak to be her successor.

Sunak personifies the worst or the best of Indian-ness, depending on which side of the fence you are sitting.

(I have often used the term Chineseness in my blog. A friend wrote to ask if it was grammatically correct or even appropriate. I just did not feel necessary to explain, after all, he is also Chinese ethnically. Having said that, I thought I should say something about it here. It is simply my way of stereotyping without wanting to write what is obvious but subtle. I have often used Chineseness to epitomize certain aspects of our ethnic cultures, characteristics, behaviours, and way of life, which can be either good or bad to beholders. The good aspects of our Chineseness are of course, our propensity to slog hard; and the bad aspects are some of our kinsmen’s lack of etiquette in public behaviours.)

Sunak was born in the UK to parents of Indian descent who originally hailed from East Africa, went to Winchester College, and later studied PPE at Oxford. He did his MBA at Stanford. He was certainly an outstanding scholar. He is pretty short and the complex in him must have made him determined to be more “high-nose” than an English “gentleman”. This is borne out in the way he carries himself and speaks. But he forgot that he was not one of them. And he and his wife have also exhibited several self-serving and ethical shortcomings for the British public to notice.

There are already too many non-British people in the UK, thanks chiefly to their sense of guilt developed from their hundreds of years of rule of many parts of Africa, West, South and Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong. (I flew into Birmingham a year or so before the COVID19 pandemic and thought I had landed in an Indian airport!)

There is always some racism in everyone of us. We hide it to be socially correct. If the person performs to our expectations, we are happy to accept him or her as one of “us.” Otherwise, prejudice will soon rear its ugly head again.

This is precisely what has happened to Sunak. He installed several South Asians as his key Cabinet colleagues. And instead of doing the right thing, he got sucked in and acted in manners that predecessors had been accused of, and worse. The cost of living in the country deteriorated further and most British felt miserable financially. On the international front, it is a pathetic shade of its former self.

Starmer’s victory speech was delivered without much pompousness. He appears to be more down-to-earth. Indeed, he lacks the type of charisma that is normally present in political leaders in Britain. However, looks are deceiving. China should not count on him to be more friendly. Starmer has visited Taiwan on two occasions. It is said that as a human rights lawyer, he went there principally to lobby against death penalty. However, I am a little skeptical of his true purpose. (That noble?) Nonetheless, Britain’s economy is in such a dire state now and any attempt to poke China’s eyes will only hurt the country further. (Former prime minister David Cameron was said to be China-friendly when he was in office, but the day he returned to become Britian’s Foreign Secretary, he claimed China had changed and had to be dealt with accordingly. Who has caused China to change in the first place?)

We are going into a very unpredictable time. Joe Biden has vowed to fight on. Short of a miracle, Donald Trump will be the emperor of the United States of America again. India’s Modi has already understood he will no longer have a high pedestal to sit on when he joins any G7 summits. He is now feverishly courting Putin. (And in his typical Indian-ness, he did not see fit to attend the recent SCO Summit at Kazakhstan. How did the Central Asian leaders feel? The reasons? Your guess will be as good as mine!) Ukraine’s Zelensky is likely to be sacrificed. As for Taiwan’s William Lai, South Korea’s Yoon and the Philippines’ Marcos, Jr, Trump is going to ask, “You folks, what’s in it for me to help you?”

Putin has just given Biden the kiss of death in suggesting the latter is a “better” president for America. What is emerging in the world is most confusing. Trump is supposed to personify the Neo-Con Right in America. Much of continental Europe has swerved to the right. And Labour is supposed to be a left-wing party, and it is now tasked with Right Wing mission to curtail immigration and protect its middles class. All very “right wing” in European talk, indeed.

Global South leaders are increasingly aware that the way to navigate in the stormy world ahead is to work with or count on China. It is the only country that does everything with long-term considerations and philosophical thoughts (which may look undemocratic to the shallow lot in many parts of the world). Even Argentina’s “rock-star” President Milei knows that he cannot dollarize his currency without earning dollars (or to be more exact, Chinese Yuan)!!!

The Aftermath of Biden-Trump Debate…

A friend whatsapped if I had tuned in to watch the Thursday night (Atlanta time) debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. I replied why would I want to watch the two faces which I behold with great revulsion on the TV screen? Of course, I did read the commentaries that appeared in the media subsequently. The result should not have surprised anyone, or should it?

America has wasted eight good years – four under an emperor who does not know he has no clothes on, and another four under an emperor who needs someone to help put his clothes on.

And they were trying to use the debate to size up a Hobson’s choice?

I have written variously that Biden was no longer lucid much of the time. For months, he was being paraded in and out of the White House, possibly with some kind of drug to help induce temporary lucidity. Everything that came out of his mouth was not his; he had been coaxed to say them. His team had a field day! I always suspected the greatest puppeteer is Jake Sullivan, the “still water runs deep man” who operates from the White House. Now I understand there are in fact several of them.

Americans have been fooled by these puppeteers for at least the past one year!

Biden’s wife Jill heads the list. She is perhaps the one who would do anything to keep Biden in office. Apparently, she loves the trappings of his office: Airforce One and what-have-you. Despite his condition and his disastrous performance in the debate, she is still insisting that he is totally fit to seek re-election in November.

There is also the “Jewish Money, Military and Industrial and Media” Deep State which needs Biden to sign blank cheques to fund (a) Zelensky to fight the Russians, (b) measures to sabotage and provoke the Chinese, and (c) weapons to destroy Hamas in Gaza.

Another man who has strong influence over Biden is said to be his former boss Barack Obama. But Obama may spring a surprise on Jill this time. November is just around the corner. If Biden remains the Democrats’ candidate, Trump will certainly triumph. And for sure Democrats will lose heavily in the Congress too. Trump will also be 79 next year. (Incidentally, we do not seem to see much of Melania, Trump’s Slovenia-born trophy wife. I do not suppose he is “functional” at this age now.)

Is this the outcome Democrats want to see?

Time to consider my dear wife, Michelle, suggests Obama. Michelle is certainly a solid candidate compared to the two nincompoops.

It is not that Americans do not have choices; they are simply being conditioned to vote either Democrats or Republicans. One who has offered himself as an independent is none other than Robert Kennedy Jr. His campaign stops have drawn large crowds of supporters. Kennedy is also not young, though. He is 70. Kennedy has built a reputation of his own as a truthteller, activist, author and lawyer who fought for just causes. But the US electoral college system is so complicated that his effort may prove futile.

Another mainstream possibility is California governor Gavin Newsom. But he is friendly to China, which is a liability.

America’s decline was ushered in by Trump and Biden accelerated it. Americans need someone like Kennedy to change course.

Stop Press:

US Supreme Court has just granted Trump partial immunity in respect of the charges of his “attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election” (aka the Jan 6 case). I do not propose to go into the justices’ logics but suffice for me to say that if this is the way justice is meted out in America’s highest court of law, then I am totally convinced that this country is no longer capable of being ruled by common sense law.

And I was surprised by Biden’s eloquence in this response. He said that the judgement undermined the rule of law and was a terrible disservice to Americans. How did he become all of a sudden so clear-headed? Selective lucidity?