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by Suzanne Fields, Op Ed, The Washington Times
You don't need a fortune cookie to learn that China isn't playing straight with the rest of the world. The men in Beijing may be taking some of their clues from the most important page of Mao Tse-tung's Little Red Book: "Every Communist must grasp the truth, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' "
We've been lulled into thinking the Chinese brand of "free markets" will move that country toward democracy. Maybe someday, eventually, it will. But free markets must be accompanied by personal freedoms and representative government, and that isn't happening. In fact, there are disturbing signs of a military build-up and deception about it at the highest levels of the Chinese government today...
The heads of corporations and heads of state met last month in Beijing under the auspices of Fortune magazine's Global Forum to talk about the most pressing issues facing world business. They concluded that "China will overtake the United States to become the world's largest economy by mid-century."
The panelists at the Hudson Institute forum last week noted that China controls more than $200 billion of the U.S. national debt. Al Santoli, president of the Asia America Initiative, suggested that the Chinese have a master plan that the United States becomes "a vassal state, as China buys up our debt."
Mr. Rumsfeld wants to visit China next year. If he does, he should take two books with him, Mr. Menges' "China: The Gathering Threat" and Chairman Mao's Little Red Book. Mao warned his followers not to wait "until problems pile up and cause a lot of trouble before trying to solve them." He didn't always follow his own advice, but we should if we know what's good for us.
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