POSTED RESPONSE TO COLUMN BY CHARLES BURTON IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
Charles Burton, parts of this piece are less than insightful.
"Mr. Hu, while the public face of the Chinese regime, faces challenges from his military and security apparatus, from opposing factions within the Communist Party and from powerful regional and business interests."
"The other is that Mr. Hu cannot make commitments to the West because he lacks the means to assure they are kept."
Both those statements and more could be made about Obama. Indeed, the same observations may be even more true of an American president.
So few observers realize how weak - weak that is except in command of the military - the office of the American president is, that it was designed to be that way, and that there is a long record of failed opportunities in international affairs owing to that weakness.
But your last statement is a solid one:
"As for Canada, burgeoning Chinese realities cannot be accommodated by our current “one size fits all” approach to foreign relations. Our relations with China deserve a China-based approach that draws on a more comprehensive “whole of government approach,” and a separate government unit to more effectively co-ordinate Canada’s forward-looking engagement with China."
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‘"China responds to these demands with........."
‘This statement summarizes the whole problem with the West. They demand. They want others to comply. How patronizing.
‘I don't see the West responding to any of China's demands. I don't see China making demands. Period.’
Yes, Mr Burton's piece is extremely one-sided, largely failing to make any point worth making.
Over recent decades, I think it fair to call China, judging solely by its behavior, one of the world's best behaved states.
The corollary to that proposition, again based solely upon its behavior, is that the United States has been one of the world's worst behaved states.
Always demanding. Always pontificating. Always pointing fingers. Always ready to break out into self-righteousness. Always secretly pressuring even its friends.
And always, always starting wars, which in just a few decades, have killed millions.
My God, China looks good by that standard, no matter what other limits it may have.
