China Crisis – Wishful Thinking ?

IT’S ONLY A SONG ! link.

Not that I can claim I had my first Walkman then. Although I can attest to my light blue Sony Walkman procured sometime during the Tiananmen fiasco (long live Man vs Tank !)

Source : http://providence.thephoenix.com/news/128974-in-the-occupation-zone/

I chose the word “fiasco” carefully because over 20 years on, and communism eradicated in all but name and what do we have ?

This is a montage of headlines and excerpts of articles on stuff I have been reading.  A valiant attempt to reconcile my love and hate relationship of China.

Recent headlines

22-Aug-12	BBC	Rich Chinese Seeking Overseas Residency
26-Aug-12	AlJazeera	Why are many Chinese feeling disillusioned & don’t think they are sharing China’s prosperity?
26-Aug-12	China Herald	China’s chaotic health care drives patient attacks
26-Aug-12	Bloomberg	To get fabulously rich in China, spurn business and go into politics
26-Aug-12	Business Insider	An Brand New Bridge Just Collapsed In China
28-Aug-12	Marketwatch	China Construction Bank sees bad loans rising

“US politicians are paupers compared with China’s. In a February column, I mentioned an eye-popping figure from the Hurun Report, which tracks China’s wealth, that is worth repeating. The wealthiest 70 members of China’s legislature added almost $US90 billion to their bank accounts in 2011. That increase is greater than the combined net worth of all 535 members of the US Congress, the President and his cabinet and the nine Supreme Court justices.

As more and more politicians get rich through questionable land grabs, insider trading and old-fashioned rent-seeking, there is less incentive to retool the economy. Political will shrinks as overseas bank accounts swell. All that money sloshing around conspires to widen China’s rich-poor divide.”

http://www.smh.com.au/business/to-get-fabulously-rich-in-china-spurn-business-and-go-into-politics-20120824-24rpo.html#ixzz24uo1FGHF

“As many as three million young Chinese professionals toil in slum-like conditions in cramped housing on the outskirts of big cities. They are known as ‘ant tribes,’ a term coined by scholar Lian Si, China’s foremost researcher on post-80s graduates.”  http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2012/08/201282294320474807.html

HYPOCRITES

It is a global game of hypocrisy.

• All of the world lauding China’s prowess and yet no one I know is willing to permanently migrate there.  Rich Chinese are more interested in leaving !!

“Rich folks in China simply want to leave the country……..One of the main reasons for their desire to leave was more or less about safety and security of their wealth.”

• The world interested in investing in China with our hard earned pension funds and what-nots whilst the Chinese are buying up the rest of the world.

CNN : China paying billions for North and South American oil and other energy projects.

WSJ : China Buys Up Spain’s Assets

WSJ : Chinese Buyer Roils Burgundy

• Even to the extent of privatizing a place of worship, a temple, in an IPO.

Morning Whistle : OF GOD and GREED

• The Occupy Wallstreet world disparaging the bankers, financiers and even Mitt Romney whilst Chinese corruption runs rampant and meritocracy is non existent.

Reuters : For Businesses in China, a Minefield of Bribery Risks

“Corruption ranks at the top of the Chinese people’s concerns about their government & society”  http://www.cfr.org/china/chinas-leadership-shift-disarray/p27974

“Among 100 Chinese Officials, 101 Of Them Are Corrupt” http://www.businessinsider.com/in-china-among-100-government-officials-101-of-them-are-corrupt-2012-4

“In a recent trend, some young graduates are deciding to flee the big cities and instead seek opportunity in smaller cities and towns. But there, too, they are frustrated, as they discover that good diplomas – and even ability – do not open doors. Local networks and family background do.” http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2012/08/201282294320474807.html

• The western world criticizing the hardline policies of the MiddleEast yet keeping one eye closed to the regular immolations of Tibetans.

Timeline : 51 self-immolations in Tibet since 2009

• China seen criticizing the economic policies of Europe and feeding her people poison to buy themselves BMWs. America raging over Batman shootings and yet just a sympathetic nod when the motorists make sure their victims are killed in China to save on compensation.

FT  : China’s latest scare : poisonous teas : Care for some pesticides with your tea ?

USA Today : Chinese despair at endless food-safety scares

Chicago Tribune : BMW Expects China Sales To Increase Up To 30 Percent This Year

•  Australia is punishing her companies with carbon taxes yet supporting China as her largest trading partner, the largest polluter of the world.

“China is now one of Australia’s biggest sources of migrants with figures released for 2011 showing that it had overtaken the UK for the first time.”   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18966261

Business Insider : China’s Developing Nation Status Lets It Get Away With All Kinds Of Pollution

The Paradox of China

China is a paradox and it is impossible to put a finger down to it.

WSJ : China’s Economic Rights, Human Wrongs

Business Insider : The Chinese Kleptocracy Is Like Nothing In Human History

This is the best I can surmise.

If we could all choose to be born again in any part of the world right now, strange as it sounds, THE ANSWER WOULD NOT BE CHINA.

Now that I have cleared the air. I will not be seduced by cheap products, cheap food, high return investments, fake designer goods and pay for someone else to live the China dream that the Tank Man had.