Paul Keating on World Order (and China)

I am easily irritated by the constant whinge in the media about the failings of China. I have often said that one would appreciate China better if the rise of that nation is assessed in terms of its history, especially recent history.

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating is one person who has a great sense of history. And is reflected by what he wrote about China in his recent article (“Keating’s New World Order in The Age http://www.theage.com.au/national/keatings-new-world-order-20080823-40yz.html )
the relevant paragraphs of which are quote below :

. . . We can see with this the twenty ninth Olympiad, the questioning of China and the resentment at its pretensions about being one of us. Even, becoming one of us! The Western liberal press featured, generally in critical terms, the world-long torch relay, juxtaposing all that it represents and is good about it, with what it sees as China's democratic defects, viewing it almost exclusively through the prism of Tibet.

Saying, almost, that the aspirations of this massive nation, a quarter of humanity, a legatee of a century of misery, dragging itself from poverty, is somehow of questionable legitimacy, because its current government's attitude to political freedoms and in specific instances, human rights are not up to scratch. Ignoring the massive leaps in progress, of income growth, of shelter, of the alleviation of poverty, of dwindling infant mortality, of education, of, by any measure, the much better life now being experienced by the very great majority of Chinese.

In a Western and elitist way, we have viewed China's right to its Olympic Games, to its 'coming out', its moment of glory, with condescension and concessional tolerance.

The Western critic feeling the epicentre of the world changing but not at all liking it, seeks to put down these vast societies on the basis that their political and value systems don't match up to theirs. . . .

Good on you, Paul !

Brunei

When I told my friends about my recent trip to Brunei, I had expected, with all the hoo-hah about human rights in Tibet, that they would not be too impressed with the fact that the Sultan was an absolute monarch, one of a few left in the world.

No, none had expressed any disgust like they had done over China in Tibet. They couldn’t care less. But some cautiously mentioned that it was a Muslim country, hinting that it was something to be feared.

What annoyed most was it confirmed my suspicion that the issue over China and Tibet was not human rights. It was fear of the Chinese. The R word, R for racism.

"Chinese Nationalism"

Prof Wang Gungwu's interesting article on "Chinese Nationalism - Pride and Pitfalls"

http://a-collection-of-articles.googlegroups.com/web/Chinese%20Nationalism%20ST%20080806.pdf?gsc=J4KrTgsAAADNTRvf3BOLn8fFpJa0Sn9H

inspired this letter to the Straits Times (9 August 2008)

PROFESSOR Wang Gungwu made an intriguing comment in his article on Wednesday, 'Chinese nationalism: Pride and pitfalls', that the international media were astonished by the strong reactions of better-educated Chinese youth in support of China during recent events.

This should not surprise anyone as leadership, including members of the Chinese communist movement, has often come
from the intellectual class.

They were more likely to form visions of their nation's future and see the shortcomings of the society they lived in.

In the present context, many Chinese students living abroad saw the double standards engaged in by the media when they singled out China for sins which many other nations also commit.

They also set an impossibly high standard of international code of conduct for China which they themselves would have trouble meeting in similar circumstances.

The media's worst mistake was to brand the Chinese students blind followers of the Beijing communists when all the students wanted was to show their love of their country.

Brunei

We had a short trip to Brunei. I was curious about a place that has an absolute monarch, no income tax and friendly to Singapore.

It was as expected a quiet and tidy place with little signs of ostentatious wealth apart from what we were told the Sultan bought (the 100-odd Rolls Royces) and built (the Palace and the Mosque). We had few complaints from the local Bruneians. Who would, with free education and health services?

It is a place forgotten by the world, or perhaps ignored. No demonstrators (locals or overseas busybodies) to protest about anything.