China, a Different View

But China’s success is, at least in part, a mirage. True, 200 million of her subjects, fortunate to be working for an expanding global market, increasingly enjoy a middle-class standard of living. The remaining 1 billion, however, remain among the poorest and most exploited people in the world, lacking even minimal rights and public services. Popular discontent simmers, especially in the countryside, where it often flares into violent confrontation with Communist Party authorities. China’s economic “miracle” is rotting from within...The Party’s primary concern is not improving the lives of the downtrodden; it seeks power more than it seeks social development....Empire of Lies, Guy Sorman, City Journal, Spring 2007

This Guy Sorman corrective, an essay in the latest City Journal, is worth studying as it challenges most of MSM's (not to mention the State Department's) presumptions about both the opportunities and the threat of Chinese "hegemony". It's important to look behind the veil of any headline or 30 second opinion piece. You might be surprised.

Luther