Chinese soft power at its finest

by Robert Koehler on June 16, 2012

in China

At Rectified.Name, Jeremiah Jenne is full of praise for Chinese soft power.

Funny as hell post, but sadly true.

(HT to Peking Duck)

{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }

1 R. Elgin June 16, 2012 at 5:12 pm: Two words: gangster clowns
2 RolyPoly June 17, 2012 at 12:03 am: “The public wants to know” was American excuse for trash. The Chinese one should be “the public wants to know that they are right”.

The Chinese government is out to prove that they are right. In the process of doing so, they look childish. But, to average Chinese full of nationalism this works.

And, the Chinese government will keep behaving so as long as the public loves it. Each country has got the government it deserves.

Soon, Korea may elect the “Daughter of the dictator”, only to prove they loved the dictatorship. May go back to it some day.
3 hardyandtiny June 17, 2012 at 2:57 am: fuck the term soft power
4 PineForest June 17, 2012 at 6:16 am: That’s clown soft power, bro.
5 hamel June 17, 2012 at 6:42 am: hardy, you’re better than that.
6 Liz June 17, 2012 at 7:16 am: Gotta love Granite Studio. Robert, if you’re interested in doing a trilateral podcast with Jeremiah, let me know.

-Gopher Liz
7 hamel June 17, 2012 at 8:52 am: I don’t know Granite Studio, but I thought the piece was hilariously funny – and true!

I feel that the Chinese government is like that kid in junior high school, nicknamed “Psycho”, who you could always reckon on to go apeshit when someone called him by that monniker. Sometimes, when you were bored, you’d just do it for fun. other times, to strategic advantage.
8 congee June 17, 2012 at 11:00 am: Well, this may come as surprise to some of the red white and blue, good ole boys that like to frequent the Hole but the Yellow Emperor is currently bankrolling the US so if you want to keep any remnants of your lifestyle you’d better learn to read and respond appropriately to the moods of the Zhongnanhai and get your kowtow in order.
9 hamel June 17, 2012 at 11:41 am: congee: Not really. The Yellow Emperor understands enough about global economics to know that if he lets the US collapse, the tsunami of global finance will also wash upon his Yellow Shores.
10 R. Elgin June 17, 2012 at 12:59 pm: Granite Studio is the bomb. Do it Robert, just do it!
11 silver surfer June 17, 2012 at 2:07 pm: We must all bow down and acknowledge that the Yellow Emperor is the supreme representative of Heaven on Earth, legitimate ruler of us all…
12 Q June 18, 2012 at 8:46 pm: China wouldn’t do well as much people have expected:

The country’s strong growth, increasing importance and foreign praise has led to hubris. The July 30, 2009 editorial in the English language People’s Daily, an official publication, boasted that China, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), had coped successfully with the financial crisis, earning worldwide attention:

“High-level figures from the western political and economic spheres … envy China’s superb performance … as well as ‘China’s spirit’– the kind of solid, unbreakable ‘Great Wall’ at heart to ward off the financial crisis.”

The reality is that a part of China’s growth has been an illusion. Since 2008, China’s headline growth of 8-10 per cent has been driven by new lending averaging around 30-40 per cent of GDP. Given that (up to) 20-25 per cent of these loans may prove to be non-performing, amounting to losses of 6-10 per cent of GDP. If these losses are deducted, Chinese growth is much lower.

[...] The case for the hard landing assumes the rapid and destructive unwinding of asset price bubbles and problems within the Chinese banking system. A poor external environment and losses on foreign investment exacerbates the problem. Growth collapses triggering massive social unrest and political tensions.

The end of a cycle of debt and investment driven growth is typically disruptive. Japan’s experience, which China has drawn on in shaping its economic model, is salutary. Japan grew by 10 per cent in the 1960s, 5 per cent in the 1970s, 4 per cent in the 1980s, and has remained stagnant since, adjusting to the deflation of its debt fuelled bubble.

As an old Chinese proverb, probably apocryphal, holds: “There is no feast that does not come to an end”.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3882542.html