China: Friend or fiend?

"The people in Hong Kong love America. They love Donald Trump. In America, they see freedom. In America they see a future."

Is there a China in our future? This massively large country, who somehow has certain politicians cowed, and others very wary. Can we ignore China? No way Jose! But can we continue to deal with China like we have been for decades? Not if we are smart. While we were tripping along, fat, dumb, and happy, China was eating our lunch. Stealing our IP. Skinning us alive in trade deals. Building a "blue water" navy. Developing fake islands, so China could better control the South China Sea. Nope. China is not my friend.

Our intel guys have told us China does not want Donald Trump re-elected. They think he is too "unpredictable". That is the top message. I am sure there is also a subliminal message. That they would love to have part of the Obama/Biden team back in the White House. Whereas Donald Trump has been a wrecking ball to what China has tried to "build up" with America, Joe Biden they can play like a fiddle.

How about Hong Kong? How is that going these days? Just as a refresher, here is what the Sino-British Joint Declaration stipulated when signed in 1984. In 1997, Hong Kong would become part of China (sort of). For fifty years after 1997, Hong Kong, even though a part of China, would still have its capitalistic system, and live under Hong Kong laws. That however, would expire in the year 2047. Once again, how is that going? Whoops - seems like the Sino memories of the deal got very short. Either that, or 2047 came about a whole lot sooner than expected.

The people in Hong Kong love America. They love Donald Trump. In America, they see freedom. In America they see a future. With China, they see only chains. By the way, where are the British in all of this? They inked the deal with China - the deal that China broke. They should inform China the deal is off, and take Hong Kong back under their wing. But the Brits are like America under Obama/Biden. Go along, come along. China takes everyone to the cleaners, and nobody seems to care. That is - except Donald Trump. No wonder the ChiComs want him gone.

Meanwhile, the "greenies" in America are blaming every hurricane, heatwave, thunderstorm or dark cloud - on the United States pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Meanwhile, nobody says "boo" about China. And why should they? China is the world's biggest climate polluter. 73% of all China's CO2 emissions come from the burning of coal - more than all of Europe, Africa, and America combined. Bottom line? The ChiComs are twice the polluter that the United States is, and nobody cares.

I won't even get into the Uyghur issue. Save that for another day. Donald Trump cares about it. Our civil rights aficionados only want to re-litigate 1619. They should be looking eastward towards China right now, it they want to see real civil rights violations.  

So - is China a friend or a fiend? I know what my answer is. It is the same since 1970, when I was serving in the Navy in the WestPac. That was back during the Mao days. I had the opportunity to do a deep dive into what makes China tick for a long time. They are fiends, not friends. The people are fine, just not the government, which is evil. Donald Trump has their number. Joe Biden does not. Remember than in November.