THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, January 13, 2011


7


CHINA DAWN; THE PRC’S “PEACEFUL RISE”? NEW YORK—


by John J. Metzler Syndicated Columnist


The growing e c o n omi c , military, and political power of the People’s Republ ic of China has en- couraged Bei- jing’s geo-po- litical hubris on the global


stage. Now set to the backdrop of rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, continuing trade rows with the U.S., and thorny territo- rial issues in the South China Sea, PRC President Hu Jintao and Barack Obama are slated to meet at a Washington summit later this month. Beijing’s Foreign Ministry ad-


vised, “President Hu’s visit will be a major event of China-U.S. relations in the new era, and China hopes the visit could fur- ther push forward the positive, cooperative and comprehensive China-U.S. relations.”


Korean Vortex Keeping the peace on the di-


vided Korean peninsula remains paramount for both the PRC and the USA, although for differ- ent reasons. While Beijing has long-backed and still supports the quaintly titled Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, China does not want its comrades to pull it into a military confronta- tion with South Korea and the U.S.


Though realists in China real-


ize that conflict in neighboring Korea is bad for business and investment, they equally fear the emergence of a united Korea under the democratic South ex- tending to China’s frontier along the Yalu river. Thus while Beijing has maintained booming busi- ness ties with capitalist South Korea for two decades, it has still invested ideologically in the moribund Marxist North Korean regime, which serves as a buffer state and over which they still hold leverage. What concerns China is the


Kim Dynasty’s nuclear weapons program which offers Pyong- yang’s rulers greater political independence and equally the opportunity to recklessly play it’s nuclear trump card to counter- balance Seoul’s treaty ties with


Washington. Thus the PRC favors the long- running if still unproductive Six Party talks (South and North Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S.) which offer a mul- tilateral diplomatic framework to reign in communist North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.


Trade and Investment Trade and commerce between


the PRC and USA will also form part and parcel of the discus- sions. America’s massive trade deficits with the People’s Repub- lic hit $227 billion in 2009 (a recession year) and will likely ex- ceed $ 250 billion when numbers are in for 2010. Beijing’s huge foreign reserve treasure trove al- low the PRC not only to be one of the USA’s largest creditors, but let’s face it, given that Washing- ton is in such deep financial debt to communist China, does this not impinge on American political sovereignty and freedom of action in the international arena? Equally China has become a


major investor globally, in no small part due to all those trade dollars sloshing around. Ac- cording to Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce, China’s overseas in- vestment stood at $43 billion in 2009 and is slated to pass $50 billion in 2010. That’s investment in places as


diverse as Sudan, Venezuela, and Brazil. The PRC has renewed its historic focus on courting African states for trade, especially petro- leum and raw materials for its growing economy, and political support in the United Nations for its policies.


Territorial Disputes The PRC aggressively pursues


territorial claims with a host of countries. The South China Sea, a vast body of water bordering six sovereign countries and through which vital maritime lines of communication pass, has been unilaterally declared China’s “sovereign waters,” in spite of the internationally recognized right of freedom of the seas. More- over island groups such as the Daoyutai/ Senkaku disputed be- tween China, Taiwan and Japan remain another flashpoint, as do the Spratelys. In recent but largely overlooked comments, China’s Defense Min-


ister Liang Guanglie stated un- ambiguously, “In the coming five years, our military will push forward preparations for military conflict in every strategic direc- tion.” Does this connote asym- metric warfare; cyber war, Space?


He intoned ominously, “We may be living in peaceful times, but we can never forget war, never send the horses south or put the bayonets and guns away.” As part of China’s growing mili- See METZLER on 23


HOUSING MARKET


by Thomas Sowell Syndicated Columnist


“ H o u s i n g Market Set- back Forecast” the newspaper headline said. A recently re- leased report on hous ing says that home sales are down more than 25 percent and the inventory


of unsold homes is about 50 per- cent higher than it was the same time last year. This is just one of innumerable


stories about the woes of the housing market. We all under- stand about human beings hav- ing woes. But how can a housing market have either setbacks or woes? Moreover, why should politicians be riding to the rescue of the housing market with the taxpayers’ money? We hear all sorts of sad stories


about people whose homes are “under water” or who are facing


foreclosure. But why should our attention be arbitrarily focused on these particular people, rather than on the many other people who would benefit from being able to buy those same houses, if the prices came down? The gov- ernment is artificially keeping the prices up with subsidies and with pressures on lenders to accom- modate the current occupants. Can we not walk and chew gum


at the same time? Is our atten- tion span so limited that we can only think about one set of people that the media and the politicians have chosen to highlight? Do other people count for less


just because the media don’t put their pictures in the paper or on the TV screen? Or because politi- cians are ignoring them? Sometimes we are more con-


cerned about some people be- cause they are especially de- serving. But this cannot be said about those who borrowed money to buy homes that they could not


See SOWELL on 14 “SAVING” THE


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