Re: Letter from China: What if Beijing is right?

this communists' dog is masking the problem beyond the foundamental base.
of course, "things have never worked out that way before",
on the foundation that, there were no government be so monopolized BEFORE.


ltlee1@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

On Nov 3, 2:14 pm, PaPaPeng <PaPaP...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sat, 03 Nov 2007 09:25:01 -0700, "ltl...@xxxxxxxxxxx"





<ltl...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

And what is the answer? In most cases, one must confine oneself to the
provisional voice, yet one based on a long record of human behavior
and history. Based on that knowledge, the best we can say to these
"what ifs" today is: because things have never worked out that way
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He answered his own question negatively: "Things have never worked
out
that way before." This is the whole of his observation and analysis.
Does not
need to go to China to write such kind of article.

I am amazed that anyone can read the author's conclusion as other than
an admiration that perhaps China has found a new way to govern and to
conduct affairs of State. He opines clearly that the methods the US
now uses are not working. Since China seems to be succeeding in many
areas in governance and in diplomacy, in economy and in national
development, China must be doing something right without resorting to
the usual practice of using military might and coercion to wield her
power. No government in history had done this before. What if
Beijing's methods are right? The implied answer is perhaps (the West)
should adopt China's methods.


In order to understand the article, we need to follow the flow of the
article.
Basically he set up the "what if" early in the article such that he
could shoot
it down at the end.

The concluding paragraph:

"And what is the answer? In most cases, one must confine oneself to
the
provisional voice, yet one based on a long record of human behavior
and history. Based on that knowledge, the best we can say to these
"what ifs" today is: because things have never worked out that way
before."

First of all, he sugested the readers to based on a long record of
human
behavior and history although in most cases one should be confined to
the
provisional, i.e. what was provided by the fact.

Secondly, his answer the the title question begins with a "becaue."
Let us
see what is before the "because":

1. The west should adopt Chinese methods because things have never
worked out that way before.

2. Things won't work out Beijing's way because things have never
worked
out that way before.

Which of the above looks like an answer to the question of "What if
Beijing is right?" I choose (1) above.

Please note that "things have never worked out that way before" is a
CONCLUSION, not part of an observation about Chinese exceptionalism.
In short, he did not proceed from "things have never worked out that
way
before" to let us contemplate the possibility that Beijing can be
right.

He took China's achievements early on and compared them to the
repudiation of the business cycle and the stock market bubble. Of
course,
no one has repudiate the business cycle and stock bubble is waiting to
be
pricked. So the question of "what if Beijing is right" is a strawman
he can repudiate.

Anyway, he raised an interesting quesiton. But he did not do any
serious
analysis on how Beijing can be right or wrong. This is the major
shortcoming.



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