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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Losing China: A Story of American Commerce, Desire and Betrayal |
| 2004-12-23 |
| A Summary of a Riveting Book of a truely gathering danger and American Corporations' Insatiable Greed. Gutmann worked for a few years in Beijing, then did something extraordinarily useful: namely, this book. He has reported, clear-eyed, what he found in China, burning his bridges, spilling all the secrets. Secrets of whom? Mainly of the Americans who form sort of a permanent colony there. These Americans cooperate with the Chinese government to sustain the illusion of proper capitalism and progress. Gutmann is like some mammoth sociological, political whistleblower. And he blows it in irresistible style. You can smell his Beijing. He is unvarnished about the Chinese, and unvarnished about the Americans. He offers a thousand insights, and a hundred character studies. The Chinese government — which lies as normal people breathe — helped stir the Chinese people into a hateful frenzy after the U.S. military's accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The next day, Gutmann's office mates (Chinese) demanded that his air conditioning be turned off. That is a tiny story to remember. The author details how the Chinese government manipulates American politicians, American policymakers, and American businessmen, and how the Beijing Americans freely abet this manipulation. The Americans internalize the Party line, calling Falun Gong "a bunch of nuts," for example. Never mind the torture and murder. Gutmann's illustrations of American kowtowing are amazing. Our agents there mouth the mantra that "American business is the long-term catalyst for better human rights in China," and, despite what they know, they do this "with a straight face." They are also happy to do the Chinese government's work of blackballing peskily inquiring American journalists. The Washington Times's Bill Gertz, for instance, is not welcome in China, or in the American colony. The chapter called "Visiting Day" is one of Gutmann's best. It describes the Potemkin tours given U.S. congressmen, CEOs, and others, all in a game of "fool the foreigner." So a Gov. Jesse Ventura is moved to say, "I know when I've come face to face with the future." Ranters: Recent posts have included China's interest in energy (read oil) in Venezuela, Sudan, Iran, etc. -- and Canada, the US's number one oil provider. |
| Posted by:Capt America |