Um, the US has not signed the Kyoto treaty either and we just took a big step BACKWARDS a few months ago when the new environmental laws were passed... we're not perfect either.
There is no free press in China thats for sure. The english channel (China Central TV 9) was not much more than the Propaganda Channel IMHO, as were the english newspapers. Hell, only the tourist floors in the major hotels get CNN. Satelite access in China was severly restricted after the Tieneman Square uprising. But we beam in Radio Free Asia to them, and internet access is everywhere. I was sending messages to CEG when I was in Beijing!
Workers don't make very much money thats for sure. But the basics don't cost very much either. China is growing so fast it makes your head spin. The economic development there is staggering. Shanghai is the biggest most modern city I have EVER been to. The China I visited was not the China of 5 years ago, and it will not be the same 5 years from now either. China could not even feed it's entire population until 1986!
Now they can, and they are moving fast in everything else as well. Most people did not have a land line phone 10 years ago- now almost everyone is rockin' Motorola cell phones.
China has learned from the fall of the USSR that you can't switch gears from Communism to Capitalism in one fell swoop without suffering the consequences - crime, unemployment, food shortages, etc.. They are privatizing industry slowly and inviting outside investment with open arms. It's a sure and steady path AWAY from communism.
One of the funny things I noticed while I was there was the way they celebrated two events - the awarding of the 2008 Olympics to Beijing (every kid has the hat or t-shirt) and their admission to the World Trade Orginization. Yup, the same WTO that we and many others protested. And you know what? That's a good thing for us Americans because we can now take China to court over all these economic issues that we have w/China and they HAVE to abide by the courts decision! The US has to do the same thing as we lost in WTO court regarding how corporate taxes are calculated. We didn't want to make the change but our Gov't is FORCED to by the court in a suit brought by the Europeans. We can do the same thing to China now.
Their culture is very different than ours and applying our values to their situation is hard to do. Just as what we do looks real strange to them. Look, I'm not some huge fan of China. I just went on a trip there to check it out. I spent two weeks there traveling around trying to take it all in. One thing I DO know after being there, and this applies to all the extensive international travel I've done, boy do I love being an American and living here in the USA. Nothing beats it. Everyone envy's us. They want to be us. Yet, they all resent us in some way. And we give them reason to. Warts and all though, nothing beats living here. Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to clarify my position
Thank you, and goodnight.
