What Hope China?

What Hope China?

Photo by ran liwen on Unsplash

Does it have to be this way?

People talk of the American empire declining. The empire was built on power, money, war and human rights violations. So the assumption is that whatever comes after the American empire will be the same. America may have its flaws like committing genocide (natives), supporting genocide (Gaza), slavery, war, invasions, coups overthrowing democratically elected leaders, arming military dictatorships, and simply the killing of masses and masses of foreigners, but, we assume, who wouldn’t do the same if they could? Any other dominant country would behave just the same. If America doesn’t do it somebody else will.

But are empires the only way to set up a working system for the world? Are they inevitable? Is the only question which country you want doing the invading and bombing and the things of empire? In other words have we learnt nothing?

It can’t be true that every country wants to rule the world. Does Norway have plans for global domination? Is Mexico looking to build an empire? Maybe having a strong – the strongest – economy doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be the most warlike.

Russia seems to want an empire and the U.S. already has one so my question is about China. The Chinese don’t have military bases all over the world and certainly none surrounding the U.S.

I’m not an expert on China or even a pundit pretending to be an expert on China. I’m just a western citizen wondering if China has given any indication it wants an empire. Would any country be satisfied to have a strong economy, a strong defence and strong trading relationships with other countries and stay within their own borders?The U.S. went all over the world fighting wars and invading countries. Does China have a secret plan to annex Mexico? To bomb Brazil? When was the last time China invaded a country? When was the last time China was at war? 1979 for both. America has fought 21 wars in just the last 25 years.

Granted if the U.S. fades from prominence they might take Taiwan. That’s a special case and doesn’t constitute an empire or match the invasion record of the U.S. The American empire has done well by the U.S., Canada, and western Europe but it has been a disaster for the rest of the world. If you live in Central America what you know Washington for is wars, military dictatorships, genocide, death squads, and generations of disappeared. The U.S. did that. Not China. If they have to choose between a deal working with the Americans or a deal working with the Chinese you can see why China might be more attractive.

There is always the possibility that as the wheel turns China invades Canada, where I am. There’s an even stronger possibility under Trump that the U.S. invades Canada.

Maybe there is something in human nature that demands war and domination and that affects Chinese civilization the same as ours. Maybe everybody (country) lusts for power and is willing to kill for it. Or maybe the reason I might think that way is because under American dominance that’s what we’ve seen.

I think I see China as a sufficiently different civilization that I can hope for better from them than the current players. I don’t want to believe that wars and empires are inevitable just because we seem to have such a history of it so far in the west. I’m prepared to be called naive and may be clutching at straws but things are so bad now they have got to change. So I hope for positive change. Sue me.