The danger, though, lies in the fact that these Asian countries, which are making such rapid economic advances, generally lack the liberal traditions which we in the West take for granted. America is worthy of its superpower status because it has been not only economically but politically liberal. Therefore the advance of American interests in particular, and the West’s in general, have been more or less synonymous with the advance of liberty. By contrast, China’s extraordinary economic progress is occurring despite, not because of, its political tradition—which has always been one of tyranny.
—Margaret Thatcher. Speech at a Congress of the New Atlantic Initiative, Prague, May 11, 1996.
The cultural problem with China
China’s population has been imbued with authoritarian discipline (as the Japanese were); they have been festering under perceived slights by the West (as the Japanese were); they harbor vicious hatred for their neighbors across the Sea of Japan (as the Japanese did); they have grown rapidly from an agrarian culture to being a leading manufacturer of high-technology goods in less than a generation (as the Japanese had); they are using Western technology, goodwill, and trade to forge an economy capable of posing a threat to world peace (as the Japanese did); they have been indoctrinated for centuries into believing their country is superior to all others (as the Japanese were); they have no tradition of democracy or personal liberty (as the Japanese did not); in its place the people have been animated with aggressive nationalism (as the Japanese were); they place a lesser value on human life, a legacy of totalitarian rule since time immemorial (as the Japanese did).
It is an error to imagine that once the Chinese are in a material position to threaten the world they will no longer want to because by then they will enjoy the fruits of modern civilization (smart phones, plasma screens, clothes, food, cinemas, electricity, etc.) and be averse to barbarity. The reverse is true: we know from history that newly dominant autocratic nations always seek to impose their domination on the world. We have seen that:
- Centuries of authoritarian rule by their absolute monarchs set the French on a despotic course. Their attempts at world conquest had to be broken in Russia before being finished at Waterloo.
- Centuries of authoritarian rule by the Hohenzollerns, Bismarck, and the Kaisers sent the Germans likewise down the wrong path. Their new strength, gained through rapid industrialization, went aggressively to their heads. Their attempts at world conquest had to be broken at Stalingrad before being finished in the Berlin bunker.
- Centuries of authoritarian rule within a cruel feudal society twisted the Japanese mind. Despite all the material trappings of civilization and technology, they embarked eagerly on a path of aggression beginning with the invasion of China and the utter barbarity of the Rape of Nanking. The more their trade with the United States enriched them, the closer they moved towards their ultimate destiny of attacking their benefactor. Their attempts at world conquest had to be broken in the Pacific before being finished by the calamities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The consequences of Chinese industrial primacy
If steel is the basic foundation of modern war, it would be rather dangerous for a power like Japan, whose steel production is only about 7 million tons a year, to provoke quite gratuitously a struggle with the United States, whose steel production is now about 90 millions.
—Winston Churchill. Speech at Mansion House, London, November 10, 1941.
Events proved Churchill’s common-sense observation correct. His logic is no less sound today. If technology is the basic foundation of a modern war, and China holds the vast bulk of the world’s technology manufacturing capacity—while the United States is becoming a money-tampering, hollowed-out, socialist wreck—it stands to reason that in a future conflict, China is destined to win.
It is an error to imagine that nuclear weapons will deter the Chinese in the same way that they deterred the Soviet Union. Experience has shown that all weapons are eventually overcome by new technology. This rule applies equally to nuclear weapons—whose efficacy is, even now, being undermined by missile shield technology. The world has no way of knowing what ten million Chinese physicists will come up with, but we can be sure it will make the Manhattan Project look like a school science fair project. They may discover a device that can prevent all nuclear fission within a given area, or simply cause targeted co-ordinates to cease to exist.
The stakes
There are persons too who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them, they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if they succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy.
—Thomas Paine. The American Crisis, December 12, 1776.
In all the hype about Chinese economic growth, it must be remembered that it is not unparalleled. The West was full of admirers of the ‘dynamism’ of the Third Reich in the early 1930s. They ignored Mein Kampf, the vociferous speeches, the military preparations, the concentration camps, the murder of political opponents, the quashing of civil liberties, and the mistreatment of Jews. Then when that same ‘dynamism’ manifested itself in an aggressive war, it took unthinking men by surprise, yet the nature of the beast was plain to see all along. The same applies to our contemplation of China today. We already know what military victory by the Chinese over the rest of the world would mean. If the Chinese are victorious in a war against the United States of America and Europe, they will proceed to resettle hundreds of millions of Han Chinese in Europe and the Americas—in order to obliterate the current occupants through dilution. We know this because this is what they have done in Tibet since their invasion and occupation of that country in 1950. The nature of the beast is plain to see.
Likewise, no one should be surprised if a Chinese-occupied America or Chinese-occupied Europe is subject to a zero child rule for non-Chinese. The Chinese already impose the horrific evil of a one-child policy on their own people. The nature of the beast is plain to see.
