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Ya Want China Reality? Pomfret Gives China Reality.

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

Maybe five years ago, I was at an incredibly crappy China conference right here in Seattle. I knew it would be bad, but I had been given a free ticket and I needed the CLE (continuing legal education) credits. And it was. Bad that is. One of the reasons it was so bad was because the moderator would spout out things like "whatever we [the United States] are making, China can make just as well as us for one tenth the cost and it probably already is. Last time I was there I was picked up in an SUV that cost around $5,000 and was every bit as good as a Range Rover." What causes someone even to think that way? I don't know and to a large extent I don't care, but I do care that there seems to be a growing trend of people who seem to believe the US can do no right and China can do no wrong. Nobody (and I do mean nobody) with whom "I hang" thinks that way and that is because they have seen too much for reality not to preclude such views. Steve Mufson and John Pomfret recently did an article in the Washington Post, entitled, "There's a new Red Scare. But is China really so scary?" (h/t to China Private Equity) This article is so dead on, so well-written, so sensible that you just have to read it. In its post, "Smart Commentary on China from Washington Post," China Private Equity provides the following excellent summary of the WaPo article:

The key insight is that America, in the midst of a deep and long recession, is undergoing one of its periodic bouts of self-laceration. The widespread anxiety that America is in decline is exacerbated by a sense that China is now better, smarter, faster in many important ways. A lot of this is plain silliness, as John?s article points out. America?s problems are home-grown. China?s rise over the last 30 years is overwhelmingly positive, for its own citizens first and foremost, but also for the rest of the world, US included. There?s a lot for an American to admire, even envy, about China. Two examples: even while remaking most aspects of its society, the family has retained its primacy in Chinese life, as a source of stability, happiness, and purpose. China also remains the most ?kid friendly? country I know, measured by the care and affection lavished on the young Chinese, particularly infants and preschoolers. Americans, in the main, have always had a special fondness for China, regardless of the state of the political relationship between the leaders of the two countries. But, that fondness doesn?t stop many of them from perpetuating simplistic notions about the place. Once, China was seem as hopelessly backward and poverty-stricken. Now, it?s seen as a novice superpower, outmuscling the US across the globe. John?s article cites a quote from Sun Tzu, ?If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.?

I completely agree. What do you think?

Full post as published by China Law Blog on March 07, 2010 (boomark / email).