China threat

There have been more worrying developments in Chinese attitudes and policy recently. Without wishing in any way to reduce these to a “yellow peril” scenario there are causes for concern. We have to remember that China is a dictatorship and explicitly rejects ideas of truth, law and human rights.

The recent behaviour regarding Hong Kong is regrettably only the most current of a number of abuses against civilised norms. The mainland Chinese are seeking to impose in Hong Kong the same totalitarian regime as elsewhere in China. The difference is that in taking over the territory China undertook specific commitments about the future extending for 50 years after taking control. This was the agreement often referred to as “one country, two systems”.  Ever since assuming control the Chinese government has been evading its commitments. For example they have insisted that HK can only have its Legislative Council from their choice. Elections have become a sham. They have used a variety of means to prevent or disbar ant member they dislike.

The Chinese government’s secret services have even kidnapped from HK those they choose to think are opposed to the Beijing regime.

The most recent attempt, suspended for the moment, is to exert Chinese law in HK. This was by means of a procedure to put people in HK in front of Chinese courts. While the law in HK is relatively free and roughly accords to Western standards the law in China is anything but being a tool of the state.. It seems all too clear that the Chinese government intends to gradually extend the same regime on mainland to HK. The size of protest shows just how resentful the people of HK are about this.

There has always been a tension between the Chinese regime and Western  values. It could be argued that Britain was naïve in ceding control of HK and relying on a treaty. However it was felt at the time that HK could not exist separately when its lease of some territory housing water supplies ceased. There was a general feeling in the West that as China became more prosperous then its political system would become more liberal. This has not been the case. The regime has played the nationalist card very heavily and persuaded the Chinese people that prosperity and national pride far outweigh any regard for human rights. There is evidence that the bulk of the population newly arrived at prosperity are quite happy with the situation.

The economic rise of China has been quite phenomenal. In the space of 30 years or so the economy has been transformed from relative poverty to the second largest economy in the world. This has largely been facilitated by the trade freedom of the Western system. Sadly the clumsy trade war initiated by the Trump regime is both self defeating and reinforces a perception of American unfairness.

There is some truth in the past perception of the Chinese seeking to take advantage wherever possible of Western Liberalism. There is some evidence of Chinese spying for Western technology. More worrying was the quite explicit demand that anyone selling in China had to transfer all their technology. This demand has become somewhat muted of late. The regime also explicitly demands that Chinese high tech companies operating in the West must transfer to the regime information acquired. This is at the root a of the Huawei furore and part of the reason it cannot be trusted.

The Chinese regime regards Taiwan as a Chinese province to the horror of Taiwanese who value their independence. The regime has bullied almost all the world into refusing to acknowledge Taiwan as a separate country.

While paying lip service to anti -imperialist theories there is evidence that China is seeking to enslave some by offering large loans which are superficially attractive but difficult to repay. This is often accompanied by an attractive “belt and road” rhetoric which also attempts to conceal an imperialist stance.
There are unfortunately too many other concerns about Chinese regime policies such as their militaristic stance in the South China sea. It seems the best Western policy at present is to engage in trade when on equitable terms while continuing to maintain and propagate the best liberal standards of democracy, law and human rights