Rivers of Exile

China on the move: first order of business? business April 19, 2006

Posted by Delilah in : US, World, US Congress , trackback

first order of business

Pic from Xinhua

Seems to me, this guy has his priorities straight: visit Microsoft headquarters, dinner with Gates, visit to a Boeing commercial jet plan, lunch with Bush, Yale. Then, on to the Middle East and Africa.

Makes sense to me, more time in DC - where the confluence of arrogance and ignorance becomes more lethal each day - would be a waste. The undeniable, irreversible rise of China on the world scene has jerks in Congress in a tizzy. Their utter impotence is palpable.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who chairs the House global human rights subcommittee, said in an interview that if China is not pressed hard enough this week on what he sees as Beijing’s systematic mistreatment of its citizens, Hu “could walk away from here without any sense of our serious human rights concerns, which only gives a greener light to further abuse.” (emphasis mine)

Now, come on - who the hell does he think he is fooling?

Don’t these creeps have any shame at all? The House global human rights subcommittee? What is that? Where has it been for the past 5 years? Abu Ghraib? CIA’s secret goulag? Guantanamo? Jose Padilla? Hello? Anyone?

For every arrogant State Dept report on human rights in China, China produces an equivalent report on the state of human rights in the US and neither looks particularly pretty. So, how about we take a break from all this lecturing of the rest of the world and start cleaning our own multiple, egregious, unacceptable violations of human rights?
The same Rep. Chris Smith (R - NJ) even feels comfortable adding this wonderful little gem:

“You don’t coddle a dictator,” Smith said. “We have to speak truth to power.”

Now - how about that! Tell you what, congress person, get started already, we’ve been waiting a while. Or do you only mean “foreign power”, especially your competitors on the global scene? How about domestic power? Wanna speak to it too?
And of course, never one to miss an opportunity for empty posturing,

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., reflected a growing sentiment among lawmakers last month when he blasted Beijing as a “government without a conscience,” intent on manipulating its currency to the detriment of American producers and allowing widespread piracy of copyrighted U.S. goods.

Well then, Senator, get off your soap box and, take a cue from Bill Gates and others in the private sector and work collaboratively with your Chinese counterparts to solve whatever problem there is. A few basic tips for you:

Instead of abusing the Chinese in the US media to coddle whatever retarded constituency you need to coddle on any given day, do us all a favor and educate yourselves;
Quit calling China, the Chinese government and the Chinese people names and passing moralistic judgements- you’re in no position to do so and everyone knows it. Besides, I doubt Chinese officials give a damn about your twisted value system. So shut up and get to work. China has to feed its people and your constituency needs to quit listening to nutty evangelicals, lose weight and take math and science. All that creativist nonsense won’t do much for your constituency except maybe keep them voting for reactionary fools such as yourself and the rest of your colleagues.
Work with them, you ought to be able to do that or else you are in the wrong job, but we knew that already. It’s called negotiations - a fairly basic concept, you know. Stomping your foot and foaming at the mouth won’t make your backwaters any more competitive on the world stage. So, get going, your people want good jobs and a living wage. Get with it.
Of course, you’ll also have to listen to the concerns of your Chinese counterparts too. They’ll make demands related to our own detrimental practices that affect them. So, you know, listen up, take notes, go home and reflect and then propose something constructive for both countries for a change.
That’s right, I know it’s a novel concept for the no longer “world’s superpower” but that’s life. We’re in such dire straits, it’s not even funny. So, suck it up and do your best to find solutions that work to everyone’s benefit. The Chinese don’t have to surrender to any of your foolish diktats for you guys to make a deal that works for us, the people. That’s your only job. Do it.