Message from cwatson

[Anonymous]

Miranda Ko and Professor Dube:

Here is one of my assignments which will cover my absence on December 5, 2009.

On Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 4 pm, I heard Dr. speak about
his book, "The Rise of China."

Many of the factors which foretold the end of the British Empire, are evident with regard to the US in world affairs today. It is from these observations and other factors that lead Dr. to write his book about the Rise of the East.

He opined the the West considered itself as most cosmopolitan, but it is most parochial.
Democracy on its own is not the question - it is a Western invention and pluralism is part of it.
The West is not the repository of democracy. Democracy is a Western phenomenon born out of ignorance.

Until now, other countries had to adapt to the West and that is changing. (refer to "playground metaphor").
As a result, it will be very difficult for most Westerners to adapt to another culture.

By contrast, the Chinese people do not regard the state as their representative which means that the state is not reduced to a democracy. With no serious competitors to its state within the last 1,000 years, delineating limits to the power of the state.

In addition, the Chinese enjoy: 1) greater authority, 2) greater literacy, and 3) greater respect from its people. The Chinese people view their state with reverence and they are willing to defer to it for the sake of national stability.

China's population view their state as: 1) the guardian, 2) the custodian, and 3) with legitimacy as the protector of the Chinese civilization.

Thus, our differently evolving society (US-China) results in a differently evolving state and it is utterly hubristic to make the Chinese government like the US government.

In his opinion, he believes that the Chinese state is the most competent state in the world.
For example, the Chinese government has extraordinary ability for governance. In fact, it is the culture, governance, and society which define China as a government with an extraordinary ability for governance.

Why do these differences exist?

Political scientists are focused on political systems, not political cutlures, but they ignore the fact that it is the political culture that determines its politics.

For example, there may be some form of democracy in China albeit autocratic democracy.
I think of Tiannamen Square. It will not be the last major protest that occurs in China.

The US is no longer able to underwrite the international order after WWII ( and the US was the chief beneficiary of this arrangement) and it is in relative decline. As a result, there will be a long period of instability for the US as it seeks to compete with China.

Since WWII, the biggest economies were the richest economies. Today, the biggest economies of India and China are not the richest.

He asserted that race is a cultural construct, not a biological factor.

Out of China's 1.3 billion people, 90% consider themselves as "Han" eventhough
the population of China as a whole as been mixed, melded, mingled, and forced to assimilate to other cultures from the West and from other Asian countries.

However, the weakness of the Han people in this global society is that they have a weak conception for cultural differences since the Han people have a hierarchal concept of culture.

We (the West) do not understand China and what they do ticks us off.
However, when we learn to understand China, we will have better relations with them.

In 50 years, the US will not exercise the same power it does now (although in my opinion, it will still be an important player in world affairs, this put Taiwan in a precarious situation since it is heavily westernized and dependent on US support.

Cheryl Watson