Hungry China

Let me tell you about the REAL "China threat". Many anti-China camp, especially the west keep playing up the China threat rhetoric and tell us how bad China was and still is. Well, let me tell you something about it.

Yes, China was very bad. To be exact, it was EXTREMELY bad. Bad in the sense that the nation was terribly in "bad shape". Not bad as in evil as depicted by the western media, politicians and pressure groups. And she is still pretty bad looking today.

The Chinese people have always face two major problems: one is to avoid getting whacked; and the other is to avoid hunger.

In the past, China kept getting whacked by foreigners. The people were constantly harassed and attacked near the borders. So, they build the "Long Wall" - called the Great Wall by the impressed foreigners - to block all invading adversaries from harming them. Dynasty after dynasty, the walls are consistently maintained and even expanded.

Under such a protective environment, the nation was allowed to grow and prosper. However, it was also because of this condition that the imperial courts became complacent and disregarded the dire need for continual improvement and advancement of its armed defense. Government officials often turn against themselves. Political conflicts and rampant corruption eventually impaired the nation. Mind you, it wasn't once that China had landed itself in sorry state. It's a recurring problem. Consequently, they were conquered by the barbaric Mongols and subjugated by the minority tribe Manchus.

However, the Chinese gradually discovered that these invading foreigners are actually their own people. Even the once fearful Xiongnus were an offshoot of their own tribes from the mainland which migrated north. And these ruling "foreigners" eventually became their own people.

Thus far, China was well exploited... until came the British!

From there onwards, the people finally met the REAL foreigners. Awful. They were whacked non-stop by the Brits who forced-open trading ports in order to profit from China. What else you think they want to access the ports? Soon, many others join the fray to rob China: America, France, Germany, Japan, Russia... all came over to join the party. I'm sure they enjoyed it very much. At that time, the west did not have global corporate mentality yet. So, their only way to profit massively from overseas was through the use of force. If you check the number of indigenous people being wiped out in South America you'd be stunned. By this time, not only the Chinese people were throughly exploited, they were utterly humiliated as well. Sign boards reading "No dogs and Chinese allowed to enter" are still fresh in the minds of the Chinese people. And the rape.

So, China got whacked left and right, front and back and all the way. No chance at all. Despite being whacked, China still had to pay reparations to the whackers. High treason, really! "I whack you, you pay me money!" That's the way it was. I understand that today, they don't do things like that anymore. They've learnt something more sophisticated already. But that's another story.

When the Communist Party took over, China was completely plundered. Even the KMT took away all the valuables including golds from the national vault and the artefacts. The treasury was cleared. What was left behind was 3 million rogue elements or troublemakers to spy and cause troubles to the mainland.

China grew up under such harsh conditions. The Communist Party had to tackle extreme poverty and security problems. They had managed it. Today, no other nations dare to attack China again. Never! The first national problem had been addressed.

When China was poor, it did not seek to attack other countries. So poor, many of its people had to live without trousers. The Japanese mocked China for it when the latter attempt to build atom bombs. Stories about Chinese without trousers are everywhere. Some families had to share one trousers. There were reports and personal accounts about the pathetic state the Chinese were in by those who had been to China during its hard time.

Being that poor, naturally many people starved. When the west turn against communism because of its fear of Soviet Union, China had to rely on herself. And she suffered greatly during the Great Leap Forward. Millions of people died of starvation due to mismanagement of the means of production. It had inadvertently compounded the problem of hunger and induced mass famine. The people died on their own without inflicting anything at the expense of other countries.

Even today, although China's farm output ranks first in the world and had managed to feed 20% of the world's population with only 7% of the world's arable land, and with hefty foreign exchange reserves which makes it unlikely to have another famine any time soon, food security still remain a problem as leaders watched with grave concern at the country's agricultural surplus that disappeared just as the appetites of its increasingly affluent population has grown.

In 2004, the world's most populous nation became a net importer of food for the first time in its history. And also for the first time, Pakistan is being approached as a rice supplier. Chongqing municipal government is experimenting something new by leasing land in Laos to grow food for its urban population.

Food security in China is far from over. With more than 10 million peasants moving into cities each year, grain production has also fallen every year.

Still we have people who claimed to be China-lovers criticizing Beijing for accumulating colossal amount of forex reserves. One has to keep in mind that as the costs of labour increases over time, China's ability to accumulate great amount of forex will become lesser.

There is only "threat to China" no "threat of China". China was and is bad. So bad she is a threat to herself.