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China
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Description
The move from Communist (Maoist) beginnings from 1949 to a Capitalist free market economy has, like Russia, required significant facillitation among the worlds superpowers to enable both of the UN`s permanent members of the Security Council; China and Russia, to reflect on a smooth transition into the Capitalist market system.
China will reflect on this era with the worlds largest population of 1.251 billion ,UIGHUR-L Archive Page and conducting just 3% of worlds trade. China`s transition from its former agricultural position, to an Industrial post communist future will demand an Industrial Revolution, whilst trying to avoid the disadvantages of the "Great Leap Forward." which ended so disastrously in 1959. IND - Country Information & Policy Unit~China
The one thing China requires for this industrial revolution is power, and lots of it. Unfortunately China`s oil fields at Xianjing aren't quite so accommodating, and will need redrilling, to improve outflows, upgrading of pipelines for improved distribution, and both increases in gas and oil, from external sources China pushes into Central Asia for oil and gas In addition the controversial 3 Gorges dam, is aimed at providing additional, yet cleaner, hydro-electric power upon completion, than the former reliance on coal, aiming to reduce the poor pollution record of China's communist past. EIA China Country Analysis
Effect on Democracy
Perhaps one
of the improvements found is an increasing transparency in Chinese Government
as it moves towards a more democratic being. From the disastrous public
relations caused by Tiannemen Square, a new Government belief has had
to endorse technological change alongside political upheaval as an inevitable
part of the globalisation process. Thus, Chinese policy in allowing the
US company America Online to provide networking, has satisfied old followers
of the policies of Chairman Mao`s four olds - "smashing old ideas,
customs, culture and habits" and accommodated the more youthful need for
capital growth.
Whether China's more recent transparency
will sufficiently satisfy the demands of human rights groups, Human Rights Watch World Report
2001: China and Tibet: Human Rights Development
often mauled in the past over the Tiannemen Square
massacre in 1989 Amnesty International
, for the one- child policy, or the Movement for Christian Democracy
which
has been heavily critical in the past remains to be seen.
Environmentalists, International
Rivers Network have heavily criticised
current Chinese energy policy or cultural rights of notably the Falun
Gong religious movent, and their right to express religious freedom, which
has also met with international criticism IND - Postscript
. One of the difficulties is that the oil province
of Xinjiang is also the Turko speaking Muslim area of China, and that
in itself provides great difficulties for the future of the stability
of the country and indeed the region, whilst America is on its "war of
terrorism" path. UIGHUR-L Archive Page
A
second difficulty is the nuclear threat posed by India and Pakistan over
Kashmir, which is also on its borders
Effect on Capitalism
The development of global Capitalism into
China has taken immense diplomatic resolve, as witnessed by the Kiss Conference
organised by the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
, while still requiring the type of Industrial Revolution seen in
the UK at the turn of the 20th century. China`s principal needs will be
energy in order to support that. Both gas and oil will be required
to supply the huge 3 Gorges dam project and industry to a sustainable
level, and sufficient to see China grow as a country. National investment
in non China companies abroad particularly in bordering, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. reveals the source and wishes
of the Chinese Government. All it requires is the mode of transport,
(pipelines) which range from the "Trans Caspian pipeline, through Afghanistan,
and feeding India and Pakistan at the same time, or the "Pan Asian
Global Energy Bridge" pipeline consideration which has also been given
to a Russo / China pipeline China pushes into
Central Asia for oil and gas.
Summary
China and Russia are being welcomed into
the Capitalist arena in an effort by the west to rid itself of the ideological
threat of Communism. Russia is of course a tremendous exporter of
raw materials, whilst China pertains to be at this stage of its development,
perhaps one of the greatest future consumers of raw materials, notably
energy. EIA
China Country Analysis Brief
Clear indicators of need have been addressed by the Chinese Government in its demonstrations at the KISS conference (diplomatically), economically by the financial shares bought in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and physically by the 3 Gorges dam project.(SIPRI) The upgrading of oil wells and pipelines from Xianging, denoting the future aspirations of expanding energy for the Chinese Government, if not the local population.
This
unique situation has developed in order to allow two of the most powerful
countries in the East to join the Western Capitalist market system.
The West has spent the best part of the 20th century preventing the development
of China and Russia, and their economies, in order to defeat communism.
The problem is now that those powerful countries are seeking to assert
themselves according to Capitalist free market economic principles, perhaps
the US does not like what it sees in a huge potential sea change of power
in Asia, and possibly the Middle East. China can select from a host
of countries to supply its energy needs, cornering lucrative deals and
alliances along the way. OAO Gazprom
In the meantime warning shots by the Chinese Foreign Minister; Tang Jiaxuan,
against Israel for its "aggression in the occupied Palestinian territories"
does little to settle the nerves for Asian / Middle Eastern peace, particularly
while the potential nuclear threat of Kashmir develops openly in the bordering
India / Pakistan dispute threatens regional stability. (Kaldawy M)
External critics of the Chinese Government`s current "democracy" claim there are Human Rights abuses, Human Rights Watch World Report 2001: China and Tibet: Human Rights Development environmental damage International Rivers Network and cultural havoc Amnesty International Few, however, doubt that China will be a driving force in the capitalist arena every bit as much as it was a frightening thorn during its communist past.
Copyright S Coleman 13 July 2002, last updated 8 December 2003
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