wsj: letter on j. ramesh's chindia idea

apr 30th

red salute to all on the upcoming may day. quite interesting how the marxists have taken over this age-old spring festival of the pagans and made it their own. exactly like christians took over the winter solstice festival of the druids and made it the alleged birthday of the alleged jesus.

jairam ramesh has written a book, a compilation of his essays on china and india, pushing this 'chindia' concept. i think it's hindi-chini bhai bhai, old wine in new bottles, and more self-delusional, because china is far more dangerous today than when they had a starving, rag-tag army.

i am all for inventing new terms. in fact i rather like the neologism 'chrislam'. meaning the unvarnished form of christianity that is exactly like islam: exclusive and warlike, the kind that ratzinger/benedict is likely to push. (heard the italian media is calling him 'papa razzi'. nice pun.)

but 'chindia' is something i instinctively distrust. it appears to me to the epitome of the sinophile's fantasy of cooperation, whereas from the point of view of the imperialist chinese, it would mean india as a colony of the chinese. chinese have a clear view of the world (dinned into them via ultra-jingoist textbooks from childhood) that they are Masters of the Universe, and had unfortunately been colonized by the brits (via opium) and the japanese (via force) in the 19th century, and therefore they have been horribly wronged.

once or twice i have written about the analogy between this and the german world-view during the nazi era: one of past glory (prussia as strongman of europe) and humiliation (after ww1). this led the germans to a heady cocktail of virtuous victim-hood plus imperialism. china is exactly like this: visions of splendor (when they were imperialists) plus visions of utter humiliation. china is the new nazi germany, and they are far more dangerous, as they are a continent-sized country, not one of several strong states in continental europe.

china clearly wishes to dominate asia, as though it is their birthright. but the reality of their past is that apart from the two river deltas (pearl and yangtze) their country, because of poor soil and water problems, has always had a hand-to-mouth, precarious existence for the majority of its citizens, which is they have always been so eager to migrate out: there has been wave after wave of chinese out-migration to greener pastures mostly in southeast asia.

the situation is not so different today. despite all the fuss about the booming coastal cities, the bulk of the rural population is living in crushing poverty. i'd recommend the recent book (banned of course in china) named survey of chinese peasants by chen guidi and wu chuntao. i haven't read it, but i have read several reviews. it appears the chinese rural poor are roughly as badly off as the worst-off indian rural poor. it is eye-opening.

here's a letter in the wsj contradicting what jairam ramesh had to say. ramesh's article in the wsj is here http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2005/04/wall-street-journal-jairam-ramesh-on.html. it is interesting now that economists in the us are standing up for india. this was forwarded by a friend.

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jairam ramesh, congress MP in rajyasabha, wrote a piece in the WSJ,
extolling the virtues of "chindia" i.e. an updated hindi-chini bhai
bhai paradigm, the embrace sealed by a free trade agreement, never
mind lingering security, geography and water issues. the following
letter is a response to ramesh's article.

--- from the wsj ----

India Should Be Wary of the Chinese Dragon

How disappointing to read an Indian parliamentarian's views on the
recent overtures made by China toward India ("Sour Turns Sweet" by
Jairam Ramesh, editorial page, April 18). Mr. Ramesh states that a
Washington-Delhi partnership aimed at containing China would not be
in India's national interest. This is naïve at best, and quite
possibly dangerous. While China's economy has progressed rapidly over
the past quarter century, the same cannot be said of its progress
toward democratization. China's adoption of a new anti-secession law
that authorizes the use of force against Taiwan and Beijing's
encouragement of anti-Japanese riots illustrate just how little the
Chinese Dragon has changed.

As America leads the global war on terror, China's investment in
defense has been guided by a new strategic objective to create the
means to project a credible military force beyond its borders. It has
been developing a new class of attack submarine that came as a
"technical surprise" to American defense analysts. They have also
improved the expeditionary capabilities of the People's Liberation
Army. At upward of $65 billion, China's annual defense budget is now
the second largest in the world and is expected to expand fourfold in
the next two decades.

With China's rise as a military power looming over the Asia-Pacific
region and Beijing suffocating the voices of dissent anywhere under
its immediate control, the window of opportunity for democracy in
East Asia is shrinking fast. The United States' offer for significant
military aid to India is essential for eventually balancing power in
the region. Since India already has a large military, a technology
infusion would help modernize India's armed forces and make it a
formidable presence in Asia.

This is not to say India should not continue pursuing improvements in
bilateral relations with China by encouraging free trade and
resolving outstanding border disputes. However, India must realize
that a militarily powerful but non-democratic China looms as a threat
to peace and stability throughout the region.

After independence India chose non-alignment during the Cold War
instead of defending freedom and democracy. It must not make the same
mistake this time. A marriage of the world's largest democracy and
the world's largest power would go a long way in keeping Chinese
ambitions in check.

William T. Wilson
Managing Partner & Chief Economist
KeystoneIndia
Chicago