Don't expect China to be like us.
.
I would like to see The Independent break away from the general media
tendency in the UK to perpetuate a hostile view of China. The charge
you make, that China is a state in which "superficial prosperity cloaks
endemic corruption and ruthless politicking" (leading article, 17
April) is one that, to judge from The Independent's own recent
reporting, could quite easily be applied to Britain or the United
States. In fact, as far as corruption is concerned, China performs
better than several European countries, according to Transparency
International's 2011 rankings.
China is a culture with a 2,200-year tradition of centralised,
one-party government. It is very probably evolving toward a one-party
"democracy" like the government of Singapore. Whatever its eventual
form of government, we can be sure that it will not look like that in
Britain or the United States, and we would be presumptuous to think
that it should. They have been in the business of government much
longer than the West.
The case on which you base your editorial is an example of criminal
activity and personal corruption rather than ruthless politicking.
China's politicians may indeed be ruthless people, but that they are
taking advantage of a political opponent's apparent downfall is not
unusual.
The judgement that China's current prosperity is superficial deserves
more explanation than is offered. The disappearing prosperity of the
leading Western economies, based on cheap loans and imaginary financial
products, is certainly superficial. China's current prosperity is based
on manufacturing.
Westerners need a much greater understanding of the complexity of
modern China and of its accomplishments. It seems possible that this
may yet turn into a "Chinese century" and whether or not that frightens
us we will have to adapt to it.
C Henson
Ashford, Kent
:
Note:
This interesting letter appeared in the Opinion column of the
Independent today(April 19, 2012). Sure, I would like to share it with
you.
-bhuban
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