I n 1998 China retook control of Hong Kong from the British. That moment was monumental as far as world financial markets were concerned, and at that time something that struck me as very significant was that China granted a fifty year option to do business as usual. Hong Kong didn’t need to change.
Fifty years that doesn’t seem possible for a country or a government to think that far ahead or make a concession that far into the future. But then China is not you average country nor is it the backward communist country you thought it was. China is a work in progress, China preps itself to become more than significant in the twenty first century financially culturally and as a voice that speaks reasonably
In a book titled ’’The Way And It’s Power” A Study Of The Tao Te Ching And It’s Place In Chinese Thought by Arthur Waley the author states,
“The rulers duty then {and every Chinese philosophy is formulated not as an abstract theory but as an art of ruling}
This is not some backward nation that needs to be put in place because of human rights violations this is a nation that needs to be better understood. China has progressed naturally and dramatically it doesn’t need any preconceived imperialist democracy it needs to keep doing what it has been doing and what is making China work as well as it does. China has earned the worlds respect. Give China the respect it deserves.
President Obama bowed to show respect to his hosts, and it is my firm belief that Chinese leaders are able to recognize substance with this President as opposed to the bumbling fool who couldn’t find the door during the last Presidential visit. A new era in Chinese American understanding is possible. No more my way or the highway, cowboy diplomacy, the real deal is now in play. Expect that President Obama is going to be as well thought of on this Asian trip as he has been every where he has gone. He is restoring Americas credibility by recognizing the traditional respect given, by bowing and being genuine.
China wonders about Americas impermanence, President Obama will only be here another seven years. Then who do they deal with, and how?