What's Happening in India and China?

I really have no idea, but I think it's something we should all be thinking more about.

Here's a report on what a recent Congressional delegation to India was told:

They spoke to a lot of Indian government people and the message from them was very clear, and in a nutshell it was this: We don't much care about America. He said they were very polite but almost indifferent. Maybe matter-of-fact is a better description. The conversation went something like this:

We consider ourselves as in competition with China for leadership in the new century. That's our focus and frankly, you have made it very difficult for us to deal with you. We find your approach to international affairs ridiculous. The invasion of Iraq was insane. You've encouraged the very things you say you were trying to fix ? terrorism and instability. Your attitude to Iran is ridiculous. You need to engage with Iran. We are. We are bemused by your hypocrisy. You lecture the world about dealing with dictators and you deal with Pakistan. We are very sorry for your losses from the 9/11 terror attacks. Welcome to our world. You threaten us with sanctions for not signing the non-proliferation treaty, but you continue to be nuclear armed and to investigate new weapons. You expect us to neglect our own security because you want us to. We don't care about sanctions.

(Tim Dunlop via Kevin Drum.

Rumsfeld was in India on December 8 and 9, and his reception, at least officially, was kinder.

Meanwhile China is trying to buy some weapons from Israel--and the U.S. is trying to stop the transaction.

It seems obvious to say the world will be dominated, if not ruled, by the Chinese and the South Asians in the near future. What will that mean? In many ways, these people are becoming very American as they become richer--they like popular culture and shopping. There is also enough traditional family life and morality to add a kind of "red state" component to both countries. India's Bollywood movies are known to be romantic in a way that shades into prudish; there is a hue and cry now about an amateur video on the Intranet of sex between teenagers. Whatever the caste system means today, it apparently has to do with cleanliness or purity, and it is the clean or pure ones who are upper caste. This combined with patriarchy seems to impose limits on sexual freedom. Yet kids immersed in pop culture and the Internet will be kids.

China, if anything, is even more of a mystery. Lots of abortion, lots of capital punishment? Blue state, red state? What's left of Buddhism and Confucianism after decades of Communism?

There seems to be very little Christianity in either China or India. India has a huge Moslem population (larger than the Moslem population of any other country?), and China actually has some Moslems in its territory as well.

Maybe the Ghost of Christmas Future should be speaking, not Arabic, but either Mandarin or Hindi, or a weird combination of the two. Perhaps a bit like the "street" dialect in the movie Blade Runner. (Althouth neither Hindi nor Mandarin are mentioned there).

Thu Dec 23, 2004 11:30 am MST by robertll | Email Article |

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What's Happening in India and China?