It's hard to tell which is growing faster: the strength of the Chinese economy and culture (shown to glorious display during the Beijing Olympics last year) or the fear of that strength coming out of Western countries.
I (currently) live in Australia and this past weekend, the amount of coverage and breathlessness over China and some of its "shadowy citizens" could only be construed as having reached a feverish pitch.
Most of it stems from a story about a businesswoman, Helen Liu, who has both Chinese and Australian citizenship as well as a very close relationship with the Aussie Defense Minister, who has apparently (and in secret) taken trips to China to visit this woman. As a result, his own Defense cabinet
spied on him which lead to the revelations that he had secretly visited this woman in China, and which have embarrassed him and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tremendously.
But wait, there's more. Apparently this same woman also
has ties to Rudd and former Prime Minister John Howard. Around this time, Australia approved of a Chinese buyout of one of its largest mining companies amidst outcry here in Australia that the Chinese were
"taking over Australia." . A similar Chinese bid to take over OzMetals was rejected this month because of "security concerns" but that bid is being reconfigured. I have no doubt that the Chinese will keep working on it until they are able to procure this company.
As all of this was happening, Li Changchun, propaganda chief of the Chinese Communist Party and the fifth-most powerful man in the country was having a
(also secret) meeting with Prime Minister Rudd and the chief of the Australian Broadcast Corporation to protest Australia's reporting on Chinese events. Even Voice of America has gotten into the act, with a story about the Australian government denying it's getting
"too close to China." Around the world, the US is alarmed at a
$10 billion currency swap between China and Argentina in an attempt to persuade nations to adopt the yuan and drop the dollar in trades with China; the EU is nervous about China's unabashed
"superpower ambitions" including "signs that developing countries see the G20 summit as a chance to impose
a new world order and end the era of Anglo-European dominance." ; and Fidel Castro is giggling like mad over China's ascension, calling the country a
a "bitter drink" to the West.
Western countries, which have been at at top of the pyramid for centuries, appear nervous, anxious and even a bit confused over the growing threat coming out of the East. I can't help but wonder if this was Scandanavia or Iceland, would there be this much "concern," but throughout history every country faced with the threat of being toppled off the top of the totem pole has reacted in a similar fashion.
The Beijing Olympics may have been China's official debutante/coming out party. These folks are NOT playing...
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