Reason Number 34 - White China Crime

Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 65

"The second element of the 4th Army of Instability’s triumvirate of crime is made up of those wearing white shirts and dark ties with direct access to the finances of companies and banks nationwide.

White China Crime rarely involves just a single culprit, simply because it is almost socially acceptable to rip off the hand that feeds you. While they form an element of the 4th Army of Instability, White members rarely have contact with Blue China Crime members by virtue of their social standing.

White China Crime is a rampant force in China, especially in the country’s banking sector, because that’s where the real money is. "

Crime is another of those areas where China is so much a mirage. Crime in China is omnipresent yet hidden. It’s present everywhere and visible almost nowhere. Come to most any big city in China and your level of personal safety is – for the most part – rather higher than it would be in many Western societies. Certainly I’d feel safe anywhere in Shanghai at any hour. That’s not something I could say for London.

But while you might be safe in personal terms – at least in a big city – you are surrounded by frauds and scams. Yet the low visibility of crime in China has led many Chinese people to believe theirs is a safe and law-abiding culture. And this is about as far from the truth as you can get.

And in corporate terms the amount of theft and thievery is simply staggering. Most every overseas firm in China will know this – in China, a contract is worth jack shit. If you’re a Westerner doing business in China, watch out, for you are regarded as fair game. Swindles, theft, cooked books, bald-faced lies; it’s all fair play.

Trouble is, there is no public acceptance of this fact – no – let me rewrite that – there is no public anger about this fact. Corruption is accepted. And until the people of China begin to get angry about corruption – do something about it – then China will remain a crook’s paradise.

Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 66

"Judicial corruption, another form of White China Crime, is widespread in China. In 2006, five judges in Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court were arrested for soliciting and taking bribes. Also in 2006, three top judges in Fuyang Intermediate People’s Court in eastern Anhui Province were charged with taking bribes.

In 2004, 461 judges were charged with corruption. In 2005, the number was 378, and in 2006 it was 292. But even though the number of judges being prosecuted is dropping, China’s Chief Justice, Xiao Yang, says he still has ongoing fears about the “grave situation” of judicial corruption.

A judge’s skill may also be measured by his ability to keep himself one step ahead of the laws he has been entrusted with.

Over the next few decades, the ranks of White China Crime will swell because it is incredibly easy to join up and ‘share’ the wealth. All the new recruit will need is a job with position, the ability to play with the figures, and a willingness to recruit others in the grand scheme.

With an uncontrolled booming economy, unfortunately it is fitting that China should have an uncontrolled booming crime industry."

Reason Number 33 - Marching On

‘Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 63

“Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves; 

With our very flesh and blood 

Let us build our new Great Wall! 

The peoples of China are at their most critical time, 

Everybody must roar defiance. 

Arise! Arise! Arise! 

Millions of hearts with one mind, 

Brave the enemy’s gunfire, 

March on! 

Brave the enemy’s gunfire, 

March on! March on! March on, on! 

The above words, China’s National Anthem, were written by the poet and playwright Tian Han, in 1934. Tian died like so many of China’s other citizens during the ‘Cultural Revolution’ (1966-1976). ‘In 1968, Tian Han disappeared after endless torture of being criticized and beaten. He never left a word to anybody. Even his bone ashes couldn’t be found. Ten years later, [he] was finally exonerated,’ following the normal in-and-out of favor process, says the state-run China Radio International.

When the national anthem was written, the target of ‘marching on’ was clear – the Japanese armies which had invaded China. It was ‘fighting’ against the Japanese on which the People’s Liberation Army hangs it reputation after being formed in 1927. But today its goal is less clear, less defined, obscured by military inactivity and often politicized by grand-sounding rhetoric.”

The fact that Tian Han was beaten to death would come as a surprise to most Chinese people today – at least, to those who had any idea who he was. 

To those who know China, his murder is of course no surprise. One of the reasons China has such a dismal record in innovation and creativity is because standing out is dangerous.

Take Lao She (老舍), for example. He was a wonderful writer, creating novels of great sensitivity and insight. For me, his greatest work is ‘Camel Xiangzi’ (骆驼祥子), since I feel it gives more insight into Chinese society than his play ‘Tea House,’ (茶馆) which is especially venerated in China. Lao She committed suicide in 1966 after having been paraded through the streets and beaten by the Red Guards. 

Again, few people know this. It is seldom mentioned in China today. He is simply accepted as a great writer, and the appalling way in which China treated him is simply airbrushed out of history. Today’s students are not to blame for the crimes of their forebears – but the fact that China does not admit to its history is a problem indeed. 

Happy those who died of natural causes. The big names of modern Chinese history, from Sun Zhongshan to Lu Xun were lucky if they died young. Had they lived, China would have murdered them. But in death they became safe objects for veneration, and so venerated they were, even though both were totally ineffective men.

People tell me the ‘Cultural Revolution’ mentality is in the past. This is bullshit. It is still part of the fabric of contemporary Chinese society, and in a future entry I shall set out why this is so.

‘Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 64

“How should one interpret China’s ‘unconditional’ pledge ‘not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states’ and its ‘policy of no first use of nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances’? Do the words ‘not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states’ imply that use of nuclear arms against nuclear states is open and available as part of national policy?

Let us here remind ourselves of the words of PLA general Zhu Chenghu who, in mid 2005, said that if America came to the aid of Taiwan in the event China invaded the country, ‘I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons.’ Zhu said that “We . . . will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds . . . of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”

And it is interesting that while Zhu said these remarks were his personal opinion, and while Beijing said they did not reflect official policy, internal criticism of General Zhu was remarkably limited. A senior general in an army in a developed nation that made such inflammatory remarks would face almost certain demotion, perhaps even forced retirement. Yet General Zhu apparently went unpunished, keeping his post as a head of the College of Defense Studies at China’s National Defense University, where he was still making policy pronouncements in 2006 and 2007.”

Reason Number 32 - China Fat

‘Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 61
“In 1982, just three years after China’s opening-up policy began, researchers commented that ‘Chinese food policy planners are doing much better from a dietary point of view than their Western counterparts, while avoiding problems associated with increased obesity and higher incidence of cardiovascular disease.’

In 1985, just 0.2% of urban boys between seven and 18 years old were overweight. By 2006 that figure had risen to an astonishing 25%. That’s an increase of more than 100 times.

Yet more than 9% of children five years old or less in China’s countryside were underweight in 2005, and in the poorest rural areas, 14.4% were underweight. Furthermore, 17% of rural children were growing more slowly than was normal.”

Another chance squandered by China. That lead in public health back in the 80s, sure, it was the upshot of many years of such poor management of the nation by the government that people were too poor to have access to fatty, sugary foods – or, indeed, even much meat. And, certain, there is no argument to be made for keeping people on a restricted diet.

But the fact remains China had a brief period of being a healthy nation and it pissed it up against the wall.

Today China apes the West as much as it can – all our dirty, squalid habits, our pollution, our selfishness and greed, our irresponsibility. All that is good in China is forgotten and all that is bad from the West is glorified.

It occurs to me that China’s attitude today is precisely the same at the attitude that many people ascribe to ChinaBounder – one of exploitation and indulgence. China wants, needs, takes; more money, more resources, more luxury goods, more conspicuous consumption. The mindset of China (swept with a broad brush, coasting over the minority of exceptions) is that of the child in the sweetshop, greedy for every colored bonbon.

ChinaBounder and China – not at all so different.

‘Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 62
“Shanghai is China’s fattest city, with 15.1% of boys and 9.2% of girls obese (as opposed to merely overweight), compared to an average of 11.9% for boys and 5% for girls nationwide. One of the reasons that boys are fatter than girls is that boys are still viewed as superior to girls, and thus are spoiled much more by parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

In Beijing, more than 50% of middle school and 60% of high school students have abnormally high blood pressure. A survey of more than 13 million students found that lung capacity – a key measure of overall health – had fallen by more than 300ml since 2000. To put this into context, the average lung capacity of a six-year-old is about 2100ml and for a 14-year-old about 3600ml.

According to China’s Ministry of Health, urban Chinese boys at the age of six are 2.5 inches taller and 6.6 pounds heavier than six-year-old urban kids 30 years ago. They are three feet 10.5 inches tall and weigh, on average, 47 pounds. In America, urban six-year-olds average out at the same height and are just three pounds heavier. China is catching up fast.

In China, the saying that ‘A fat child is a healthy child’ is still widely believed.”

Reason Number 31. Taiwan - The Poison Pill of Democracy

‘Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 59
"Democracy is bitter medicine, and for some political regimes it is difficult to make them take it. As a medicine, democracy protects the individual and grants immunization against party politics. Like all medicines, democracy contains many negative side-effects, yet also provides the individual with a basis in which to survive and grow strong. A more unique method of injecting democracy into a totalitarian or communist state would be in the form of a ‘poison pill.’

Currently, Hong Kong is a limited democracy, and its freedoms are closely monitored and often controlled by Beijing. The Party resists the pressure of democracy within Hong Kong in a cat-and-mouse game designed to keep the people of Hong Kong waiting. The Party knows that they only have approximately 40 more years to wait until the 50 years timeframe of guaranteed political autonomy for Hong Kong has expired, whereupon a smile will return to the faces of Party bosses as they tell the world ‘things change’ and end any hint of democracy in the former colony.

If Hong Kong were to achieve full democracy, could a Hong Kong citizen travel to Beijing on June 4th to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, exercising his or her democratic freedoms? Could a Hong Kong democratic political activist use his or her freedoms to set up a democratic political party in another major city in China? Or could a Hong Kong journalist ask a party politician a question which may reveal ‘state secrets’? Clearly the answer is ‘No.’ Beijing could not tolerate any of these scenarios. This is why, in the opinion of the authors, Hong Kong will never be granted full democracy by Beijing."

These days the relationship between Taiwan and China seems to be warming up. Ma Ying-jeou is making the right noises to please Beijing, and, both parties with their eyes on the buck, direct flights between the two countries have been opened up. This is being hailed as a great achievement: why, Ma has achieved more in the few months of his administration than any other leader of Taiwan since 1949. “Cross-straits peace will be remembered as the most important accomplishment of my administration” he said recently.

It’s sheer bullshit, of course. Anyone who thinks China’s Communist leaders will show the slightest bit of flexibility towards Taiwan knows nothing about China. For Ma to talk of ‘warming relations’ is the grossest sort of hubris. China has only arrogance and contempt for Taiwan, for the wishes of Taiwan’s people. China has no interest in ‘dialog.’ China does not even see Taiwan as the free and independent nation it so obviously is. What kind of respect is that?

China is all smiles for now, now that Ma is not talking of secession. But should Ma ask for the smallest concession, he will be swatted aside like the tiresome bug Beijing views him as. He will never be allowed to deviate from the ludicrous ‘One Country, Two Systems’ fairytale formula, and he will never be accorded the smallest measure of real respect.

China will never change; for China’s leaders and 99% of its people, all indoctrinated, inflexible, and positive about what Taiwan ‘is,’ there remains only one attitude – Taiwan is part of China.

Forget this talk of warming relations – it is a mere passing mirage.

There can be no peace in the Taiwan Straits for the simplest and most obvious of reasons. The Taiwanese people are just that – Taiwanese.

They are not Chinese people, and they have zero interest in being part of China. None whatsoever, none. What free citizen of Taiwan would want to become a slave of China? It is absurd.

And so it is war we are talking about. War is still on the cards, and one day soon China will move to invade Taiwan. The plans are already drawn up and the political calculations made. China will seize Taiwan even if it means killing every person in that nation.

‘Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 60
"Should Taiwan be taken back with its political system intact, the situation would be profoundly dangerous for China. Other ‘autonomous regions’ such as Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia would see democracy of Taiwan and demand the same for themselves. China’s system of provinces, fractured by democracy, would collapse in on itself, with the Communist Party unable to stop the democratic leaks in the dikes as democracy starts to ‘cure’ the Party’s previous indiscretions.

Taiwan, aside from being the largest democratic poison pill for China, may thus also be viewed as a democratic silver bullet.

But slaying the often-demonized communist Party of China with one ‘shot’ of democracy is simply not going to happen. The attempt by the Beijing government to force other countries to kowtow, accepting the ‘One China Policy,’ is mere bluster. China seeks validity for its policy of reunification in order to legitimize any untoward action such as war in the Taiwan straits.

The game of indignation that Beijing plays to perfection masks their awareness that to swallow Taiwan, with all its democratic energy, would poison the communist system beyond recovery."