Am I the only one who finds this troubling?

By Aussiegirl

Am I the only one who finds this troubling?

CNN has a disturbing story about the increasing presence of China in the Caribbean. I'm just so delighted that the State Department thinks this is all so peachy-keen. And since when does an economic offensive equate to political liberalization? Strikes me as mushy-headed wishful thinking.

Americans are often so naive about the aims of regimes like this. We can't seem to put ourselves into the mindset of evil people -- and make no mistake -- China is an evil regime, which oppresses its people and is guilty of the most rank human rights abuses. In addition Russia and China are beginning to cooperate on a number of fronts. China is also developing long range missiles and also has its eye on developing a military presence in space. Democracy is not going to flower there just because they are expanding economically. As a matter of fact it makes China even more of a danger in the long run than even Russia is right now. I think China is perfectly capable of continuing to grow as an economic powerhouse, while still maintaining long-range hegemonic goals.

Coupled with the article below on the deterioration of democratic institutions in Russia, one is left to wonder if the emphasis on the war on terror and the Middle East is not distracting the administration from seeing more long-range dangers gathering on the horizon.

More from the article:

China is waging an aggressive campaign of seduction in the Caribbean, wooing countries away from relationships with rival Taiwan, opening markets for its expanding economy, promising to send tourists, and shipping police to Haiti in the first communist deployment in the Western Hemisphere.

And the United States, China's Cold War enemy, is benignly watching the Asian economic superpower move into its backyard.

(I'm glad somebody is happy about this)

. . . The United States has applauded China's economic offensive, seeing it as a herald of political reform.

"China's intensified interest in the Western Hemisphere does not imply a lack of focus by the United States," Roger Noriega, the U.S. assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, said in a recent letter to the editor of New Jersey's Newark Star Ledger.

"The United States has long stood for expansion of global trade and consolidating democracy."
This year, two Caribbean countries -- Dominica and Grenada -- switched allegiance to China, abandoning Taiwan, which China calls "a renegade province."

(So -- are we abandoning Taiwan?)

Once mortal enemies
In the Caribbean, only five countries still maintain relations with Taiwan -- the Dominican Republic, Haiti, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

But China has commercial missions in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti, where in October China dispatched 95 police officers to join a U.N. peacekeeping force. It is Beijing's first contribution to a U.N. mission in the Western Hemisphere.

(Anybody the least bit uncomfortable with Chinese "police" in our neighborhood? They could just as easily be military.)

And perhaps the reason for all this complacency on the part of the US can be found in the last sentence:

U.S. exports to China have grown more rapidly than to any other country with cumulative investment there reaching $35 billion, according to the State Department. Among leading U.S. businesses there, Wal-Mart sales in China totaled $707 million in 2003.