Beijing versus the Christians
From January -
Chinese Police Dynamite Christian Megachurch
Quote:
HONG KONG — Chinese police officers demolished one of the country’s largest evangelical churches this week, using heavy machinery and dynamite to raze the building where more than 50,000 Christians worshiped.
The Golden Lampstand Church in Shanxi Province was one of at least two Christian churches demolished by the authorities in recent weeks, part of what critics describe as a national effort to regulate spiritual life in China.
Under President Xi Jinping, the government has destroyed churches or removed their steeples and crosses as part of a campaign that reflects the Communist Party’s longstanding fear that Christianity, viewed as a Western philosophy, is a threat to the party’s authority.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/1....facebook.com/
Back to the future, China's ideological warfare
After years of claiming it will not interfere in the politics of other countries, China has openly changed the game. During China's 19th National Congress last October, Xi basically assumes the role of dictator (ruler for life), and integrates Xi's thought into the Communist Party Constitution. Xi's thoughts includes endorsing Marxism with 21st Century characteristics. He has dismissed democracy as a failed system in subsequent public statements. Unfortunately for those of us that hope for peace, history tells us that any nation that has embraced Marxism as a national ideology has aggressively attempted to impose political control over their neighbors and in the case of the USSR, they attempted to establish Marxist based proxy governments globally. At least since 2008, China has interfered in the internal affairs of other countries despite claims to the contrary. China is now openly using a range of coercion and economic incentives to strongly influence, if not out right control, the decisions other countries make regarding their economy and security decisions. In short, they're eroding their sovereignty. For a nation that claims to be promoting peace, those words ring hollow when one examines how China is militarizing the South China Sea, militarily attempting to resolve border disputes with India and Bhutan, and militarily threatening Taiwan.
The following article is interesting.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/17/a...ntl/index.html
At the height of his power, China's Xi Jinping moves to embrace Marxism
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A slickly produced five-episode educational show titled "Marx Was Right" was broadcast on television screens across China. While in Germany, Beijing gifted a giant statue of Marx to his hometown in Trier.
The Chinese government's Marxism push comes at a time when they are trying to simultaneously portray themselves as the defenders of capitalism, including in several high-profile speeches by Xi at international economic forums.
I suspect China will stumble over its contradictions as it continues to overreach with its coercive activities around the globe. Either China will modify how its employs its power, or sadly push it to the point of armed conflict. Armed conflict could range from a regional spat to a major world war. Part of me suspects China seeks a minor military engagement to test its military, but that could prove embarrassing for a military that hasn't seen combat in decades.
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"He sees an opportunity to assume global leadership and needs a theoretical foundation for writing new rules of a world order -- but shockingly he chose the Marxist banner."
The comment below is probably an accurate assessment,
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"China's 'free trade' is based on building a wall around itself and then takes advantage of freedoms in other countries," he said.
Also sadly true,
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"Here you have a Chinese strongman who just secured lifelong tenure, asserting influence not only through the so-called Belt-and-Road global trade scheme but also taking on the Western model as whole," he said.
"But whatever China is doing is overshadowed by Trump... whose actions are taking pressure off of China -- as everyone is trying to decipher his next tweet," he added. "It's a very fragmented West -- I don't think there is reflection, let alone a united response to an ideological challenge from Xi."
We can't tweet our way through troubled seas. Three of the world's superpowers are ruled by egomaniacs, and at least two of them of have an aggressive strategy to remake the world order. Emotion could over rule reason when push come to shove for any of the three leaders. We're cursed to live in interesting times. The BBC article below points out China is not backing down, and this has implications.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43507448
South China Sea: Vietnam 'scraps new oil project'
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Vietnam has cancelled a major oil project in the South China Sea for the second time in a year, in the wake of Chinese pressure, the BBC has learned.
Multinational companies in Spain and Malaysia supporting this effort will lose millions of dollars based on this decision.
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China is likely to regard this move as a significant victory. The Vietnamese decision seems to demonstrate that the recent show of force in the South China Sea by the United States has not changed Vietnam's strategic calculations.
What used to work in the way of deterrence and dissausion, no longer works, why? Has China's confidence increased to the degree it is willing to risk armed conflict now? Do they perceive the U.S. and its security partners to be too weak to stop China from asserting their illegal claims on other countries?
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Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines are all coming under pressure from China to concede "joint development" in areas where the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) gives them sole rights. So far all the South East Asian states have resisted the pressure.
Vietnam has chosen to try to develop its fields alone and the result has been military threats from China and, now, a second climb-down, raising questions over Vietnam's offshore potential.
I also recommending reading the most recent issue of "The National Interest" with its New Cold War cover. In addition to other articles, there are two articles on the state of the U.S. Navy due to under investment that is telling. There is no overnight fix either. Each article presents a different approach to fix it. One focuses on expanding the number of ships, while the other argues this isn't sustainable, so we must simply accept China's new role as a regional hegemon. I think there are a range of other options not discussed, but it is clear that almost two decades of GWOT has put our nation at significant risk, and we have little to show from 17 plus years of counterterrorism.
Vice President Pence Comments on China
This post could easily fit into a number of threads on China, or strategy in the 21st Century, but I'm parking it here for now.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings...-toward-china/
T
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oday, China has built an unparalleled surveillance state, and it’s growing more expansive and intrusive – often with the help of U.S. technology. What they call the “Great Firewall of China” likewise grows higher, drastically restricting the free flow of information to the Chinese people.
And by 2020, China’s rulers aim to implement an Orwellian system premised on controlling virtually every facet of human life — the so-called “Social Credit Score.” In the words of that program’s official blueprint, it will “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven, while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step.”
And when it comes to religious freedom, a new wave of persecution is crashing down on Chinese Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims.
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Last month, Beijing shut down one of China’s largest underground churches. Across the country, authorities are tearing down crosses, burning bibles, and imprisoning believers. And Beijing has now reached a deal with the Vatican that gives the avowedly atheist Communist Party a direct role in appointing Catholic bishops. For China’s Christians, these are desperate times.
Beijing is also cracking down on Buddhism. Over the past decade, more than 150 Tibetan Buddhist monks have lit themselves on fire to protest China’s repression of their beliefs and their culture. And in Xinjiang, the Communist Party has imprisoned as many as one million Muslim Uyghurs in government camps where they endure around-the-clock brainwashing. Survivors of the camps have described their experiences as a deliberate attempt by Beijing to strangle Uyghur culture and stamp out the Muslim faith.
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As history attests though, a country that oppresses its own people rarely stops there. And Beijing also aims to extend its reach across the wider world.
The world is waking up to the threat the Communist Party of China poses.
