February 14, 2005
Why China Will FailA lot of Old Europe commentators gleefully predict an American crash and the rise of China as a replacement power - why they should hate free Americans so much that they'd wish tyrannical Chinese communists to become predominant is something which we'll leave future historians to puzzle over, but the fact is that China, as long as it is unfree, cannot compete with us:
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese authorities shut down more than 12,575 Internet cafes from October to December last year for operating illegally, the government said.The purpose of the crackdown was to create a "safer environment for young people in China," the official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday.
It also promotes a safer environment for corrupt, aging communist oligarchs who don't want young Chinese getting any crazy ideas about liberty and such. If all the kiddies were getting into was porno and video games, I doubt much that the Chinese government would care...but its sites like Radio Free China that they really don't want the youngsters to see.
Free people always win in the end - and China with its more than a billion people will continue to play second-fiddle to the United States until it becomes free.
Posted by Mark Noonan on February 14, 2005 06:40 AM
Comments
Couldn't have said it better myself, Mark. Freedom is on the march all over the world!
RWR
Posted by: RightWingRocker at February 14, 2005 09:12 AM
Not sure how this will play out, honestly. Throughout the Cold War, the left was advocating for trade, engagement, and accommodation with the Soviet Union, which the Right resisted. Ultimately, the USSR was defeated.
However, when it comes to China, the Right seems to have adopted the Left's policy prescripion: Trade, engagement, and accommodation. Right or wrong, history will tell. But one can wonder if the Soviet Union would have fallen if Wal-Mart had been around and had been importing 50-70% of its inventory from soviet labor camps.
Posted by: V the K at February 14, 2005 11:16 AM
As a half-China man with family still in country and in nearby Taiwan I am very interested in what will happen to China in the future. They've taken steps in the right direction after Hong Kong was returned to China, but they still have a LONG way to go. Though I'm sure that eventually (probably after several leaders die) China will be free and will become a major force in the world.
Posted by: Gozer ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.gopbloggers.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 14, 2005 08:27 PM
The oligarchs in Communist China can only see the internet cafes. Wht they don't understand is that by chasing the young people off the public square and broadband, it's on to Wi-Fi.
I give Communist China ten years, then comes the next revolution.
Posted by: patch at February 14, 2005 08:45 PM
