2010年10月17日星期日

Winchester - My Home Town in England

Arrived London Heathrow [mid-60s] , attending school in Winchester...returned visit last year, the school's lower hill developed into expensive densed housing estate.

2010年10月15日星期五

Who’s winning the currency war

Who’s winning the currency war
Those who are worried about currency wars are too late — the wars are already here. China and the United States are both winning the race to cheapen their currencies for now. But if the rhetoric keeps heating up, everyone will be a loser.
American and Chinese officials traded blows over the weekend, setting the stage for a tense G20 summit next month. The head of China’s central bank rejected the idea of a big revaluation for the yuan, advocating a slow-acting “herbal medicine” instead. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner took a swipe at countries with “significantly undervalued” currencies, of which China is an obvious example.
The United States claims to be a loser in the currency wars. But in reality it is winning. The dollar has fallen sharply against most of its trading partners’ currencies. On a trade-weighted basis, the dollar is the lowest it has been all year, according to the Federal Reserve major currencies index. The likelihood of an imminent bout of money-printing can keep that trend going for a long time.
China, meanwhile, claims not to be a winner. But that is disingenuous too. While the yuan just hit its highest level versus the dollar since officially abandoning its dollar peg in 2005, it has fallen heavily against most other currencies. The euro, the currency of China’s biggest trading partner, has strengthened 14 percent against the yuan. The Japanese yen is not far behind. Various emerging markets, such as Brazil, have also seen their currencies soar.
The gap between winners and losers is widening. With rates as low as can be in the West, money has poured into assets in the East and South. Many Asian stock markets are at multi-year highs — benchmark indices in Indonesia and the Philippines hit records last week. Emerging market bonds too are rallying, as investors scramble for yields. That adds further upward pressure to currencies already out of relative whack with their trading peers.
There is no easy answer. But that, unfortunately, is a fact of life when the world has been living in such an unbalanced way for years. A rate hike in the United States might squash economic growth and leave the world facing another dip. A rapid China revaluation could price the country’s exporters out of the market and lead to widespread unemployment.
A gradual but sustained revaluation of the yuan versus the dollar — combined with a halt to the dollar’s own depreciation — is the least bad way forward. But getting such a deal, as positions become increasingly entrenched, will be tricky. And if both sides refuse to do anything, a currency war could mutate into a trade war — a genuine lose-lose scenario.
Oct 12, 2010
1:12 am EDT
I am a bit lost what the US is trying to achieve over the past 60 years.
An appreciating currency draws investment dollars, creates infrastructure, R&D, and manufacturing and jobs. While a decreasing currency pushes the investment dollar to leave, for better returns.
The US has always pushed to devalue its currency since 1950’s while Europe does the opposite. Europe always wanted a strong currency, and strong MARK and now more so, a strong EURO.
The inflow of investment dollars creates a strong economy, but one has to be careful not to overheat the economy thus the gradual inflows is required.
I remember the proud dollar stood 1:4, today it stands 4:1 The depreciation has been 100 fold.
Europe in general is doing fine, the people live better than people in the USA. (In general) They travel more, and 30 days a year to see the world and can afford it, like US citizens did in 1950’s. Anyone could travel anywhere, the dollar was Almighty.
So here we go again de-valuating the dollar more by printing “QE” instead of allowing it to grow by market forces and production of goods.
Don’t people realize every time the dollar drops your standard of living also drops. Soon you’ll have a basket of worthless paper or the dollar bill will have a few extra Zeros on it. Why do we concentrate on driving down the dollar and wishing a few other countries do the same, instead relying on creating a business friendly atmosphere. The small Mon&Pop hiring 5 to 25 employees will also disappear within the next 5 to 10 years due to over regulation. There is only so much time per day to be productive.
Posted by DDavid | Report as abusive

Oct 12, 2010
6:51 am EDT
Governing wisdom does not have a heart or a mind for new circumstances, and so the assumption that protectionism is BAD might just be a case of pure foolishness.
A protected economy that promotes innovation, true and genuine market economics where every individual is treated as a free thinker, might just be what the USA needs. What is wrong with self-sufficiency? What is wtrong with moral integrity? Circumstances are indeed calling for ecomomists to upgrade themselves with some phylosophy. The West is a place that has its roots in Greek idealism and it will not follow the path of the East without developping fantastic hatred aimed at this purely vicious pragmatism.
Posted by Neander | Report as abusive

Oct 12, 2010
11:07 am EDT
There is no quick fix to this problem. Transfer of technical knowledge has accelerated the relocation of industrial manufacturing. China has low cost labor, the latest state of the art manufacturing machinery, the technical knowledge we provided and oodles of our money. The west has helped China build their industrial juggernaut and major multi-national companies around the world now rely on Chinese manufactured products & components to make a profit and pay dividends. Just because they are now the lowest cost bulk manufacturer of almost everything, we can’t say “Oops we need a do-over. Giving you all that technology was a bad idea”. There is no way to turn the clock back. Greed and a lust for low priced goods created this problem. The Yuan will slowly rise in value as the standard of living improves outside of the main cities in China. They will continue to expand with or without the approval of other counties. China will sell more and more of their manufactured products to developing countries to reduce its reliance on sales to USA and Europe. The west have dug themselves into a huge “debt hole” that will result in a lower standard of living in general and high unemployment. We need to accept the reality of the situation. The USA is printing money in an attempt to patch over the problem. That is also currency manipulation. Too late to single out China as a threat to world stability. A trade war and tariffs will make the situation worse. What if, as retaliation, China decides to more aggressively reduce its purchase of USA Government securities. By choking off imports from China that scenario will be self-fulfilling. And that will result in even higher unemployment.

2010年10月14日星期四

This Nobel prize was bold and right

This Nobel prize was bold and right – but hits China's most sensitive nerve
We can honour Liu and the great achievements of the Chinese state. Let real dialogue about universal values continue
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Cop Ref: Prof .Tang
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o    Timothy Garton Ash Stanford, California
o    guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 October 2010 20.00 BST
Norway's Nobel peace prize committee has done the right thing in awarding this year's prize to Liu Xiaobo. The furious reaction of the Chinese state shows just how complicated doing the right thing will become as we advance into an increasingly post-western world.
Liu Xiaobo is exactly the kind of person who deserves this prize, alongside Andrei Sakharov, Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. For more than 20 years, he has consistently advocated nonviolent change in China, always in the direction of more respect for human rights, the rule of law and democracy. He has paid for this peaceful advocacy with years of imprisonment and harassment. Unlike last year's winner, Barack Obama, who got the prize just for what he had promised to do, Liu gets it for what he has actually done.
The Chinese government tried hard to prevent him getting it. They directly threatened the Nobel committee with negative consequences for Chinese-Norwegian relations . They have since described the award as an "obscenity", forbidden any mention of it in the censored Chinese media, placed Liu's wife under house arrest, detained other critical intellectuals, cancelled talks about Norwegian fishery exports to China – and are now doubtless debating, at the highest level, how to play it from here. Will they, for instance, allow his wife, the photographer Liu Xia, to travel to Oslo to receive the prize on behalf of her imprisoned husband?
Meanwhile, in the capitals of the west, many are quietly questioning whether this really was such a good decision. These questions are important and need to be addressed, but one hypocritical or self-deceiving argument must be demolished at once. This is the claim that it will not be good even for the dissidents if a leading dissident receives the Nobel prize. One used to hear a similar case made by western politicians who, for example, declined to meet Sakharov, Lech Walesa or Václav Havel. Commenting on an American elder statesman's visit to Moscow, one Russian writer told me: "He says it would not be good for Sakharov if they met, but what he really means is that it would not be good for him if he met Sakharov."
It is for the dissidents to decide what is good for the dissidents. All the evidence we have so far suggests that Chinese dissidents are thrilled with the award, even though it means, predictably enough, that they face another crackdown. It's not as if the Chinese Communist party was treating them very gently before. Liu was sent to jail for 11 years last year despite all the "quiet diplomacy" of western and other politicians. By his wife's account, he was deeply moved when he heard the news of his award in prison, and dedicated it to the "lost souls" of Tiananmen Square.
It is not for us to tell brave campaigners for human rights what is good for them. That is to treat them as authoritarian and totalitarian regimes treat their own people – namely, as children. "We know best what is good for you."
At the moment Liu and his colleagues constitute a tiny minority of Chinese citizens. Most of their compatriots have accepted the deal proposed to them by the Communist party since the late 1970s, and more particularly since 1989: extraordinary economic freedom and very considerable social, cultural and even intellectual freedom, so long as you do not challenge the central political pillars of the party-state. In this sense Liu is not comparable with Mandela or Suu Kyi, leaders of oppressed mass movements.
One must acknowledge, as the Nobel committee does in its citation, that China's unprecedented hybrid version of authoritarian capitalism has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, and is delivering for many of its citizens in many ways. Unlike Burma or apartheid South Africa, the Chinese state enjoys a great deal of support from its people. The test will come, of course, when economic growth slows down.
We simply cannot know how Liu's compatriots will regard him in, say, 20 years' time. It seems almost unthinkable that things will turn upside down, as they did in Czechoslovakia, so an isolated dissident like Václav Havel suddenly becomes the elected president. President Liu? Surely not. It is slightly more imaginable that Liu becomes a litmus test for the boldness of a reformist leader. As Mikhail Gorbachev's telephone call to Nobel prizewinner Sakharov, lifting his sentence of banishment, marked a turning point in the history of the Soviet Union, could a phone call to Nobel prizewinner Liu from, say, the next or next but one Chinese leader, mark another stage in China's political modernisation?
Tuesday's publication of an open letter from former senior Communist party officials, demanding more freedom of expression, is an indication that the hopes of reformists inside the party and dissidents outside it are not necessarily miles apart. It is, however, entirely possible that Liu and his colleagues will remain a small minority, representing an authentic but never predominant tradition in modern Chinese history – the tradition of liberal, constitutionalist modernisation that they evoke at length in the Charter 08 manifesto which earned Liu both prison and prize.
The fearful, offended reaction of the Chinese party-state testifies to its own insecurity, and its still fundamentally Leninist inability to tolerate any genuinely autonomous sources of social and political authority – be they Liu and his tiny band, Falun Gong or the Dalai Lama. It also speaks of a deep and more widely shared sense of national humiliation at the hands of the west. How they would love to have the international recognition of a Nobel prize. But who are the three Chinese, or China-related, Nobel prizewinners? Gao Xingjian, a Chinese novelist who emigrated to France and holds French citizenship; the Dalai Lama; and now Liu Xiaobo. Slap, slap, slap.
The Nobel citation talks of "universal" human rights. Charter 08 talks of "universal values". But Chinese leaders hear only "western" values, and the west's post-imperial but still imperialist quest to impose them on China.
Over the next decade there are three approaches the old west can take in response: capitulation, Huntingtonism, or a real dialogue about universal values. Capitulation would mean bowing to Chinese blackmail, so that, for instance, western leaders would no longer receive the Dalai Lama. By Huntingtonism I mean the way Samuel Huntington envisaged us avoiding the "clash of civilisations". This was to say, "all right, you do it your way over there and we'll do it our way over here". As China's power grows, that is where we may end up. But it is definitely too soon to give up on the hope of reaching a deeper understanding of what are genuinely universal values, as opposed to merely western ones.
In this conversation we have to be prepared to listen, not merely to speak. We cannot act as if the west has found all the answers, for everyone, for ever – an assumption that looks more implausible by the minute. If, instead of closing up defensively like a hedgehog, China were prepared to engage confidently and even offensively in an argument about universal values, we should welcome that with open arms. The alternatives are more likely, but worse.
·· 13 Oct 2010

Lett to peoples congress in Chinese

致全國人大公開信 全文
全國人民代表大會常務委員會
華人民共和國1982年憲法第35條載明:「中華人民共和國公民有言論、出版、集會、結社、遊行、示威的自由。」這一條文28年不兌現,被黨政機關制定的「執行」細則所否定。這種原則承認具體否定的假民主,成為世界民主史上的醜聞。
2003年2月26日,胡錦濤主席上任不久,在中共中央政治局常委與民主黨派人士舉行的民主協商會上,明確地說:新聞解禁、開放人民輿論陣地,是社會的主流意見和訴求,是正常的,要以立法形式解決。共產黨自身不改革,不改造,就會失去生命力,走向自然消亡。
2010年10月3日美國有線電視台CNN播出了訪談節目主持人法瑞德.扎卡利亞對中國總理溫家寶的專訪。溫家寶回答記者提問時說:言論自由對任何國家都不可或缺;中國憲法賦予民眾享有言論自由;人民對民主自由的訴求不可抗拒。
根據憲法和胡錦濤主席、溫家寶總理講話精神,我們僅就兌現言論出版自由之憲法權利方面陳情如下:
關於我國言論出版自由的現狀 我堂堂中華人民共和國公民名義上「當家做主」61年,但我們享有的言論出版自由竟不如回歸祖國前的香港,即不如殖民地居民。回歸前的香港是英國殖民地,女王政府任命總督管理這個地方,但港英當局給香港居民言論出版自由,不是空頭的,紙面上的,是落實的,兌現的。
1949 年建國,人民歡呼解放了,當家做主了,毛澤東宣佈「中國人民從此站起來了。」但直到今天,建國61年,搞了30年改革開放,我們還沒有得到香港人殖民地時 代就有的言論出版自由。現在有些參政議政的書籍,要拿到香港出版,這不是回歸祖國的福蔭,是沿襲殖民時代的舊法。大陸人民的「當家作主」地位實在太窩囊。 國家宣稱的有中國特色的「社會主義民主」實在太尷尬。
豈止普通公民,連共產黨的高級幹部都沒有言論出版自由。最近李銳遇到一件事情:不久前《周小舟紀念文集》出版,原來收進了李銳1981年在《人民日報》發表的紀念周小舟的一篇文章,但出版的書中沒有。周小舟夫人打電話向李銳解釋:「北京通知,不能用李銳的文章。」連1981年發表在黨報上的舊作也不讓收進文集,真是荒唐至極!李銳說:「這算什麼樣的國家?!我大聲疾呼:新聞必須自由!扼殺公民的言論自由是完全違法的!」
豈止高級幹部,連國家總理都沒有言論出版自由!2010年8月21日溫家寶總理在深圳發表題為《只有堅持改革開放,國家才有光明前途》的講話。談到 「不僅要推進經濟體制改革,還要推進政治體制改革。沒有政治體制改革的保障,經濟體制改革的成果就會得而複失,現代化建設的目標就不可能實現。」新華社 21日通稿《開創經濟特區的美好明天》,把溫家寶講話中政治體制改革的內容刪掉了。
2010 年9月22日(美國當地時間)溫家寶總理在紐約與美國華文媒體和港澳媒體負責人進行座談,再次強調了「政治體制改革」的重要性。溫說:「關於政治體制改 革,我曾經講過,經濟體制改革如果沒有政治體制改革的保障,也不會徹底取得成功,甚至已經取得的成果還會得而複失。」溫家寶隨後在紐約聯合國總部出席第 65屆聯合國大會一般性辯論發表題為《認識一個真實的中國》的講話,其中也談及了政治體制改革。
9月23日(北京時間)晚間,中央電視台《新聞聯播》以及 新華社通稿報導這些活動時,只報導了溫家寶談及海外華人的處境、海外華文媒體的作用等內容,提及政治體制改革的講話,都被過濾掉了。
這些事情,如果追究責任,絕對查不到具體人,這是一隻看不見的黑手。他們自知理虧違憲,通常以電話通知某人的作品不能發表、某事不能見諸媒體。打電 話的官員不留姓名,叮囑執行者為其保密,但必須執行他的電話指示。這只看不見的黑手就是中宣部。現在是中宣部凌駕於黨中央之上,凌駕於國務院之上。試問中 宣部有什麼權力封鎖總理的聲音?有什麼權力剝奪全國人民對總理講話的知情權?
我們的核心要求是取消審批制,改行追懲制。把憲法第35條言論出版自由變成可望而不可及的牆上畫餅,是經過《出版管理條例》等具體執行細則來完成的。這些執行細則,為而言之就是深文周納的審批制。有數不清的清規戒律限制言論出版自由。制定新聞出版法,廢除審批制,已成為當務之急。
建議全國人大立即著手制定新聞出版法,廢除《出版管理條例》和地方當局管制新聞出版的那些條條框框。落實憲法第35條給予公民言論出版自由,從體制上看就是從黨政機關直接控制到媒體相對獨立,從「黨的喉舌」轉變為「社會公器」。因此,新聞出版法的立法基礎必須是實行追懲制,而不能再以「加強黨的領 導」的名義強化審批制。
所謂審批制,就是出版物在出版以前須經黨政機關的審查,批准了你才能出版,不批准出了就是非法出版物。所謂追懲制,就是出版物不必 向黨政機關報批,總編輯通過了就開印,出版發行完全自由。出版後如有不良後果和糾紛,政府再介入,根據法律判斷是非對錯。
世界各國新聞出版法制的發展,走的是由審批制向追懲制過渡的道路。無疑,追懲制比起審批制是一個歷史性進步,對推動人文科學和自然科學的發展,推動社會和諧歷史進步起了偉大的作用。英國 早在 1695年即廢除了預防檢查制。1881年法國廢除了預防檢查制,報紙、刊物出版前的手續僅僅需要一份簡單的聲明,由報刊領導人簽署,郵寄共和國檢察院即 可。我國目前實行的書報審查制度,比英國落後315年,比法國落後129年。
我們的具體要求:一、取消媒體的主管單位,由主辦單位獨立負責;真正落實出版單位的社長、總編輯負責制。
二、尊重記者,樹立記者 「無冕之王」的社會地位。記者報道群體性事件,揭發官員貪污腐敗,是為民請命的神聖事業,應受到保護和支援。立即制止某些地方政府和公安機關隨意抓捕記者的違憲行為。追究謝朝平案的幕後操縱者,渭南市委書記梁鳳民必須下台,以申黨紀,以儆效尤。
三、取消限制媒體跨省進行輿論監察的禁令,保障中國記者在全中國領土上採訪報道的權利。
四、互聯網是社會資訊和公民意見的重要交流平台,除確實涉及國家機密的資訊和侵犯公民隱私的言論之外,網路管理部門不能隨意刪除網帖和跟帖,取消網特,取消「五毛黨」,取消對「翻牆」的技術限制。
五、黨史無禁區,中國公民有權知道執政黨的罪錯。
六、允許《南方周末》和《炎黃春秋》改制為民營報刊作為探路試點。報刊民營化是政治改革的方向。歷史的教訓是:施政者與評議者高度一體化,政府和媒 體都姓 「黨」,自己搭台唱戲,自己鼓掌喝彩,是很難和民意溝通實現正確領導的。從大躍進到文化大革命,大陸所有的報刊雜誌、廣播電視,從來沒有反映過真實的民 意。黨和國家領導人耳邊聽不到不同的聲音,就既難發現、更難糾正正在發生的全局性的錯誤。執政黨和政府拿納稅人的錢辦媒體為自己歌功頌德,這在民主國家是 不允許的。
七、允許已經回歸中國的香港、澳門的書籍報刊在大陸公開發行。我國加入了WTO,在經濟上已經融入世界,企圖在文化上閉關鎖國,是違背改革開放的既定方針的。港澳文化是送上國門的先進文化,觀之於港澳報刊書籍備受群眾歡迎而益信。
八、轉變各級宣傳部門職能,由制定多少個「不准」,轉變為保障資訊準確、及時、暢通;由幫助貪官污吏壓制封鎖批評揭露的稿件,轉變為支援媒體對黨政 機關發揮監督作用;由封報刊、撤總編、抓記者,轉變為對抗強權,保護媒體和記者。宣傳部門在黨內、在社會上名聲很臭,要做幾件好事恢復名譽。在適當的時 機,可以考慮宣傳部更名,以符合世界潮流。
發起人(23人):
李 銳(前中央組織部常務副部長,中共十二屆中央委員,十二、十三屆中顧委委員。)
胡績偉(前《人民日報》社長、總編輯,第六、七屆全國人大常委,全國新聞學會聯合會會長)
江 平(原政法大學校長、終身教授,七屆人大常委、人大法律委員會副主任)
李 普(原新華社副社長)
周紹明(原廣州軍區政治部副主任)
鐘沛璋(原中宣部新聞局局長)
王永成(上海交通大學教授,歐洲科學、藝術與人文研究院通訊院士)
張忠培(故宮博物院研究員,原院長,中國考古學會理事長)
杜 光(原中共中央黨校教授)
郭道暉 (原《中國法學》雜誌社總編輯)
蕭 默(原中國藝術研究院建築藝術研究所所長)
莊浦明(原人民出版社副社長)
胡甫臣 (原中國工人出版社社長兼總編輯)
張 定(原中國社會科學院社會科學出版社社長)
於 友(原《中國日報》社總編輯)
歐陽勁 (香港《太平洋雜誌》總編輯)
於浩成 (原群瀧出版社社長)
張 清(原中國電影出版社社長)
俞月亭 (原福建電視台台長、高級記者)
沙葉新 (前上海人民藝術劇院院長,現為回族獨立作家)
孫旭培(原社會科學院新聞研究所所長)
辛子陵(原國防大學當代中國編輯室主任)
鐵 流(民刊《往事微痕》總編輯)
截至10月13日北京時間下午,簽名的人數已達476人。

2010年10月11日星期一

劉曉波託劉霞赴挪威領諾貝爾獎


在囚異見人士劉曉波獲頒諾貝爾和平獎在內地掀起波瀾,據劉曉波的妻子劉霞表示,丈夫已委託她到挪威代為領獎,不過她覺得能成行的希望不大。
劉曉波獲和平獎的消息在上周五傳出後,劉霞當晚就在公安人員的護送下離開北京,驅車前往錦州,並獲安排於前天上午與劉曉波見面,之後便返回北京。
息指出,目前劉霞身在北京的住處,但未能自由活動,「即使買菜亦只能坐公安的車輛」。屋苑附近亦有大批軍裝和便衣公安看守,記者和閒雜人等都不得走近。歐 盟以及多個西方國家駐華大使館昨天派出代表,到場要求探望劉霞,但亦被保安阻止,歐盟代表只能在現場宣讀聲明,指諾貝爾和平獎委員會的決定,體現了歐盟的 核心價值。
雖然劉霞暫時未能用電話與外界聯絡,但她昨天透過互聯網接受傳媒訪問,據劉霞證實,她上周六已在監獄內見到劉曉波,當時兩人先「大大擁 抱了一下」,之後談了大約一小時;在此期間,公安一直在場監視,並全程錄影。她透露監獄人員表現得較為客氣,但她為了以後可以再次與丈找見面,所以也沒有 「說太多」。

得獎感內疚與沉重

劉霞又說,劉曉波對自己得到諾貝爾和平獎感到內咎和沉重,因為他認為這個獎應頒予「天安門母親」,說到激動時,他還哭了起來。事實上劉曉波自2002年開始,就一直為該組識爭取諾貝爾和平獎,即使在他被捕前兩天,還和美國的朋友討論有關事情。
會面期間,劉曉波並委託妻子在12月代他到挪威領取諾貝爾和平獎。不過,劉霞雖然持有10年有效期的護照,原則上可以隨時出國,惟她表示覺得「目前看來希望不大」。
另一方面,中國人權民運信息中心昨天表示,監獄方面曾為劉曉波作身體檢查,結果乙型肝炎未確診。該中心估計,若果確診乙型肝炎,劉曉波就具有保外就醫的資格。
此外,劉曉波獲諾貝爾和平獎事件已影響到中國和挪威關係,據挪威外交部稱,中方因不滿事件,已取消原定本周與挪威漁業部長的貝格的會面。貝格昨天抵達上海參觀世博,她原定在周三與負責漁業的中國副總理會面。
2010.10.11.

2010年10月10日星期日

令刘晓波因言获罪的政论文章

2010 10 8, 格林尼治标准时间20:28 
刘晓波被逮捕前曾为BBC中文网撰写过多篇针砭中国时政的文章。下面这篇文章《独裁崛起对世界民主化的负面效应》最初发表于200653BBC中文网的《学者点评栏目》。在2009年北京中级人民法院对刘晓波的一审判决书中,该文以及另外五篇文章被列为刘晓波煽动颠覆国家政权罪证。对此刘晓波称,他只是在行使宪法赋予公民言论自由的权利。自己所发表的是批评性言论而并非煽动颠覆国家政权。
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独裁崛起对世界民主化的负面效应
刘晓波
200653
中共领导胡锦涛首次正式访美,向美国作出了一系列姿态:
为减少中美贸易逆差,中共送上162亿美元的大订单;
为安抚美国对知识产权问题的关注,胡锦涛到微软总裁比尔·盖茨家做客,在访问微软公司时高调重申保护知识产权;
胡锦涛在美国一系列演讲中均表示:中美拥有广泛的共同利益和坚实的合作基础。
然而,胡锦涛首站西雅图经贸之旅的热闹与白宫布胡会的冷清,再次凸现了中美之间的经济热政治冷和不信任。
大独裁
在冷战之后的世界秩序中,中国已经崛起为备受瞩目的国家之一。改革开放使中国成为发展最快的国家,苏联解体又使中共成为当今世界的最大独裁政权。
然而在与自由世界的博弈中,今日的中共独裁政权已经完全不同于当年苏共。中共不再固守意识形态,而采取了在经济上改革同时在政治上固守独裁体制的手段。
所以,中共的改革并没有给中国带来政治进步,反而是腐蚀了世界文明。中共现政权真有钱,金钱外交也真管用,它使残存的暴政得以苟延残喘,也使自由国家降低文明标准来迎合中共的政治要求。
大障碍
可以说,作为当今世界上的最大独裁政权,中共已经构成了全球民主化进程的巨大阻碍之一。
首先,中共政权已经取代前苏联而变成其他独裁国家的输血机。中共也开始用大手笔投资开始左转的拉美各国;中共更用能源合作来吸引极端反美反西方的伊朗等穆斯林国家。
其次,中共用金钱外交和多极政治来换取欧洲自由大国的政治让步。首先,中共利用西方同盟内部在伊拉克问题上的巨大分歧,与法、德、俄一起反对倒萨之战,孤立美国。
而在中共大订单和中国大市场的利诱下,欧洲大国法国、德国似乎已经完全接受了这个政权,两国政客以与中共建立战略伙伴关系为荣,而完全不顾及人权等普世价值。可以说,中共已经变成打入西方阵营的一个楔子,使自由联盟内部对华政策的分歧越来越大。
最后,中共用国内大市场来利诱和要挟西方大资本,而资本的逐利本性则不管什么普世价值和公平贸易。所以,西方各国的大资本必然要对本国的对华政策施加影响。
大事业
比如,美国的波音公司只想多卖飞机,必然游说美国政府对中共作出某种政治上的让步; 美国的雅虎、微软、谷歌等顶级网络公司,只想在飞速成长的中国网络市场上占据更大的份额,而根本不在乎背弃普世价值和美国政府的人权外交。它们屈从于中共 政权的政治压力和利益要挟,成为限制言论自由和制造文字狱的帮凶。
要消除独裁中共的崛起对世界文明的负面效应,就必须帮助世界上最大的独裁国家尽快转型为自由民主的国家。对于全球民主化的伟大事业来说,中国是整个布局上的关键一环,盘活中国,满盘皆活。
一旦中国变成自由国家,对于人类文明就将具有难以估量的正面价值,它必将是继苏联共产政权崩溃之后,再次带来残存独裁体制的又一次世界性雪崩,朝鲜、缅甸、古巴、等独裁政权将难以为继,那些固守独裁体制的中东国家也将受到强烈的震撼。