He closes with this:
My real worry is the Western response. The most likely response, given Euro-American ideological biases, would be a bioethical panic that leads to criticism of Chinese population policy with the same self-righteous hypocrisy that we have shown in criticizing various Chinese socio-cultural policies. But the global stakes are too high for us to act that stupidly and short-sightedly. A more mature response would be based on mutual civilizational respect, asking—what can we learn from what the Chinese are doing, how can we help them, and how can they help us to keep up as they create their brave new world?
He left out what part of that criticism would include - in the Western Hemisphere - there is a little thing called slavery (not just in the USA) and a little thing called the genocide of Native Americans (North, Central, and South). Yes I have a mother of European descent, but my father was Black, Cherokee, and Irish.
If we can learn from them and not play 'race' games - beautiful - but the author doesn't reassure me of that. My parents were married 2 years after loving v. virginia. So I'm on the cusp generation that truly understands just how tender and young being a 'full human being' in the eyes of America it is for black people in America.
I wonder though - does China have an IQ level where they force sterilization? What is their next step? Is that it?
I don't expect you - the OP - to have the answers to those questions - you are just posting an article. But I'm not sure if it's a concept I feel comfortable adopting in the US. China doesn't share our history and doesn't have the racial and ethnic diversity of the US to be able to tell us they hold the key to our future.
Then again - I can be pretty heartless towards the country of China in general.
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