Socialism with Chinese Characteristics v. Liberal Democracy 16
Posted: June 27, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Consultation, layman, liberal democracy, professional, state leader, Tyranny of Majority, US 3 CommentsRule by the People v. Rule for the People
China’s Hereditary Dynasties
There may be no harmony, continuity or cooperation among people of various different interests in US liberal democracy where state leader is selected by universal suffrage but each citizen has the equal right to one vote for his/her interest or even lofty ideal. That is certainly much better than China’s game of fighting to catch the deer (which means the throne) on Central Plains (which means in China).
The game seems a natural choice of the best, but the war usually causes disaster to the people. In Chinese history, the winner of the game usually set up a hereditary dynasty, where the succeeding state leader was chosen by heritage. If the governance of the dynasty is not so bad as to make people unable to make a living, people usually would not support a rebel leader’s attempt to replace the dynasty with a new game of war. However, unlike previous winners of the games, CCP, the winner of China’s last civil war, set up the People’s Republic of China and put an end to China’s hereditary dynasties.
China’s Tradition of Rule for the People
The founder of a dynasty who had won the game for the throne was usually a clever man who regards the empire he had won as his family assets. He knew well that for long survival of his dynasty, he and his successors had to take good care of their subjects (i.e. the people). They had learned from Confucianism’s last sage’s views: “people are like water while his dynasty is like a boat. Water can carry or capsize the boat.” Therefore, the founder usually set some rules for his successors to follow in order to maintain his dynasty’s long-term survival. The most important rule was to take care of his subjects satisfactorily. That is China’s tradition of rule for the people.
CCP’s Rule for the People
As CCP is a Marxist party that advocates confuciast Mencius democracy, it is in nature a party that rules for the people. In doing so, it upholds and further develops China’s tradition of rule for the people. As it is a Marxist party, it is natural that it’s goal is to serve the people.
Western Liberal Democracy – Rule by the People
The loser of the civil war, Chiang Kai-shek of the KMT fled to Taiwan, had his political power out of gun barrels there and set up his hereditary dynasty with the support of world’s largest democracy, the United States.
In the West people obtained democracy for their rights to rule their country through armed struggle, typically the Independence War in the United States and the armed struggle of French Revolution. In the United States, the rights people have obtained through the war are specified in their Declaration of Independence, the most important of which are described in the well-known phrase: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The French Declaration of the rights of Man and of the Citizen provides in its first two articles: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.”
“The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.”
Western Democracy Is Rule by but not for the People in General
As people have their power and rights to rule their state with their votes, in a liberal democracy the state is ruled by the people. However, a modern state is usually very large with a huge population of millions of people.
People there have to elect their representatives as congress members or even a president to rule their country. As their specific interests differ, they have various different parties to represent their interests; therefore, their representativea rule their state for their different interests and have the obligations to serve the interests of the voters who had elected them. They have no obligations to serve the people in general. As a result their democracy may be rule by the people but not rule for the people in general,
Chapter 16 of Chan Kai Yee’s new book “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics v. Liberal Democracy”
Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?
Posted: June 24, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Chinese currency, dollar lagging, Latin America, yuan spreading 33 CommentsWORLDRuth World 29 days ago REPORT
Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?
Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?
Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?
Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?
Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?
Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?
Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?
Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?
Gerardo Licardi
bbc news correspondent
3 hours ago
image source, Getty Images
China is introducing the yuan as an alternative to the US dollar.
Two big countries of Latin America are giving preference to yuan instead of dollar in trade with China
Experts say that other countries of the region can also become part of this trend.
Read in detail this special report on the growing Chinese influence in Latin American economies
bbc hindi
This will not be clearly visible in the sale of cars or home appliances in some countries of Latin America, but the fact is that the Chinese currency Yuan is gradually making its place in the economy of Latin America.
In Latin America, China is promoting its currency Yuan as an alternative to the US dollar.
In recent times, some signs of this are also being received from the southern parts of here.
The Argentine government announced last month that in view of its continuously decreasing international currency reserves, it will not pay in dollars but in Chinese currency in its trade with China.
In recent days, the yuan replaced the euro as the second largest foreign exchange reserve in Brazil. After this, the government there announced an agreement with China, under which the two countries will now do mutual trade in each other’s currency instead of dollars.
After this change in two big economies of Latin America, now Bolivian President Luis Arce has said that it is becoming a kind of regional trend in which his country can also be included.
In a press conference held on May 10 this year, he advocated the use of yuan for international trade.
He said, “The two big economies of the region have tied up with China and are doing foreign trade with it in yuan. This is becoming a trend in the region. America has always had more influence in the countries of Latin America. is…but now many countries are doing more business with China’s currency. Things are changing.”
But experts believe that in the midst of increasing tension with America, China wants to promote its currency more in international trade and Latin American countries doing business with it in Yuan is a reflection of this.
China’s strategy
president of bolivia
According to Margaret Myers, director of the Asia and Latin America program at the Wilson Center for Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank in Washington, “China is using a variety of methods to increase the use of its currency in different markets. Not just a case in Brazil and Argentina, but a regional phenomenon.”
However, she cautions that it has to be seen to what extent this currency of China can spread its legs in this part of the world.
In the last decade, after increasing its trade relations with some countries of Latin America and giving financial assistance to some, China has been trying to increase the use of its currency here.
In 2015, Chinese officials signed an investment and currency exchange agreement with Chile. Under this, China opened a bank in this country of Latin America for the convenience of doing business in Yuan.
A few months later, it reached an agreement with Argentina and officially opened a bank there to use the yuan for bilateral trade.
These special banks are called clearing houses.
Generally, in international trade, first the currency of one country is converted into dollars, trade takes place in it, after which the dollar is again converted into the currency of another country. But these institutions of China directly promote international transactions in local currency and yuan, without the use of dollars.
With the intention of increasing transactions in Yuan, China is making similar agreements in other areas as well. In February this year, China signed an agreement with Brazil, its largest trading partner in Latin America. In the year 2022, its bilateral trade record with Brazil was to reach $ 150 billion.
In April this year, Brazil completed its first bilateral trade with China in yuan. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China played a key role in this, assuring Brazilian merchants that all trades in yuan would be immediately paid in the Brazilian real.
Increasing use of Chinese currency
china trade
image source, Getty Images
Velber Barral, former Brazilian Minister of Foreign Trade Affairs, says that if there is a large amount of trade and transactions are done in this way, then the use of yuan becomes very convenient, because it does not need to be converted into dollars.
Barral said, “It is China’s strategy that countries can easily convert its currency and increase its use.”
However, he also says that 90 percent of China’s trade with Brazil is still done in dollars. It is possible that due to the agreement between the two, the trade through Yuan will increase in the coming time and Yuan will become the second place in Brazil’s foreign reserves after the dollar, but at present the situation is not like this.
In December last year, the US dollar was more than 80 percent of Brazil’s foreign exchange reserves, while the yuan was only around 6 percent.
Argentina’s Energy Minister Sergio Massa announced in April that he would pay for Chinese imports in yuan instead of dollars, after Argentina and China signed an exchange agreement worth $5 billion.
Argentina said that according to an estimate, trade worth $1.04 billion from China in the month of May alone will be done by its companies through Yuan. This includes everything from electronics to vehicles. On the other hand, Argentina’s trade with America has so far been an average of $790 million a month.
With the help of agreements with China, the Argentine government is trying to stabilize its international currency reserves, which are continuously falling due to economic difficulties. Argentina’s central bank had to sell dollars in the exchange market to stabilize the country’s peso, a continuously falling currency.
Bolivia is also facing a similar situation at the moment, its international currency reserves are falling and trading in dollars is becoming difficult for it.
Bolivian President Luis Arce has said that mutual trade between Argentina, Brazil and China in yuan can solve this problem.
‘Yuan or dollar – who will decide?’
Chinese President Xi Jinping
image source, Reuters/Florence Lo
However, geopolitical reasons also play an important role in this whole game.
Experts believe that China wants to expand its fast currency and is not only promoting bilateral trade through this, but it is also trying to challenge the strength of the dollar that has been going on for decades.
And the sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia for attacking Ukraine are helping China a lot to advance its currency internationally.
This year i.e. in 2022, in China’s trade with Russia, the yuan overtook the US dollar. In 2022, 23% of Russian exports were transacted in yuan.
And as far as China is concerned, in March this year, for the first time, it paid more in yuan than dollar in its international transactions. Although its currency’s share in global trade is only 5 percent.
Some experts believe that by reducing the dependence on the dollar, China wants to save itself from the risk associated with it in the coming times.
In recent times, China has tied up with companies from Pakistan to France to promote the use of the yuan. It has launched its own digital currency which will become an alternative to the Global Interbank Messaging Network (SWIFT) in international transactions.
At the same time, the countries of Latin America are also raising questions about giving priority to the dollar in trade.
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula de Silva suggested this year that the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) could consider a currency other than the dollar for mutual trade.
Louis Inacio Lula de Silva
Lula de Silva, visiting China in April, asked, “Who decided after gold as the international standard that the dollar should be used as the currency for international trade? brought betterment and stability to the world because today countries have to run after the dollar in order to export.
But experts believe that the difficulty is that the dollar is considered a safe currency for transactions in international trade and in this case the yuan will not be able to compete with it until China itself relaxes its capital restrictions.
Margaret Myers says that despite Brazil and Argentina’s agreements with China, it is unlikely to see a rapid boom in the use of the yuan in Latin America in the coming times.
She says, “There will definitely be an increase in the use of the yuan, and China will also try hard for it. But to what extent it can be used as a global currency depends on China’s internal reforms and whether How much it can open up its financial markets. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.”
The article is in Hindi
Source: BBC “Chinese currency yuan spreading in Latin America, why is dollar lagging behind?”
Note: This is BBC’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
Pratt & Whitney Angered by Lockheed’s Support for New F-35 Engine
Posted: June 23, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Block 4, engine problem, F-35, F135, Lockheed, Pratt 1 CommentEngine-maker says prime contractor is exaggerating the jet’s future role.
AUDREY DECKER and MARCUS WEISGERBER
JUNE 22, 2023
AIR FORCE NAVY MARINE CORPS INDUSTRY
LE BOURGET, France—Pratt & Whitney is miffed over Lockheed Martin’s support for a new jet engine that one day might replace the one it makes for the F-35 stealth fighter.
Tensions spilled over at the Paris Air Show this week, as Pratt executives accused a Lockheed executive of making misleading statements about the F-35’s purported need for a new engine years from now. Pratt accused Lockheed of trying to market the F-35 as a sixth-generation fighter jet.
“We’re not surprised Lockheed Martin is angling to market the F-35 as a 6th-generation fighter, which it never will be, with the intent to delay or negate the need for a 6th-generation fighter competition and extend the life and longevity of their contract,” Jeff Shockey, senior vice president of global government relations for Raytheon Technologies, told Defense One Wednesday. Pratt is a subsidiary of Raytheon.
The Adaptive Engine Transition Program, or AETP, is an Air Force effort to develop a powerful, but fuel-efficient engine for future warplanes. The plan is to use the new engine technology in the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance fighter jet. But the tech could also benefit the F-35, keeping that plane flying for five decades. Pratt and GE teams are both working on their own adaptive engine proposals.
The Air Force’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal aims to end funding for the AETP engine, declaring the effort too expensive and cementing the plan to press on with Pratt’s proposed upgrade to the F-35’s current engine.
But as Congress reviews the budget proposal, Lockheed has begun issuing public support for the new engine.
“I am an advocate for AETP,” the Adaptive Engine Transition Program, Greg Ulmer, executive vice president of Lockheed’s Aeronautics business, told Defense One Tuesday. “I believe the F-35 is going to be around [until] 2070. There’s going to be a Block 5, there’s going to be a Block 6, probably a Block 7. We’re going to need more power and cooling. It’s just a fact of life.”
Ulmer’s comments prompted Pratt executives to fire back, saying Lockheed’s support for a new F-35 engine reflects an unwise attempt to prolong the jet’s service.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers’ markup of the annual defense policy bill would keep the adaptive program alive, but this reversal of the Air Force’s decision still requires the approval of Senate authorizers and appropriators in both houses.
Shockey said House authorizers made it clear in their markup that the purpose of funding AETP is to keep the industrial base going on next-gen engine technology for a future fighter. But now Lockheed is “trying to shift the debate…tell one story and try to go implement another story. It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars and adds tremendous risk to the program,” he said.
Proponents of the adaptive engine say it would offer more thrust while burning less fuel. Ulmer said the adaptive engine would deliver “improved performance” for the F-35, in addition to more power and cooling.
“Beyond Block 4, we need more power and cooling. What I like about AETP is you get both of those and you get specific fuel consumption improvement, so now the range of the airplane increases,” he said.
But Pratt officials argue that it’s “misleading” to say that the jet needs a new engine for power and cooling reasons—because a Lockheed-led study concluded that combining the Pratt engine upgrade with an upgraded power and thermal management system could provide 70 percent more power and cooling beyond Block 4, said Jen Latka, vice president of Pratt’s F135 program.
Even if you put an adaptive engine into the F-35, Latka said, “It will never meet the mission requirements of the 6th-gen. It is not a replacement. So we really believe that there needs to be a focus on 6th-gen airframe with a 6th-gen propulsion system.”
Both enginemaker Pratt and prime contractor Lockheed have had their fair share of problems with the F-35 program: Lockheed has struggled to deliver Block 4 upgrades for the jet and Pratt has struggled to deliver engines.
Source: Defense One “Pratt & Whitney Angered by Lockheed’s Support for New F-35 Engine”
Note: This is Defense One’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
Socialism with Chinese Characteristics v. Liberal Democracy 16
Posted: June 20, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Consultation, layman, professional, state leader, Tyranny of Majority, US 30 CommentsPopular Support v. No Support Even by Congress
Popular Support for CCP’s Administration
As mentioned in the preceding chapter, CCP enjoys widespread support of all Chinese people as it has proved by lifting all Chinese people from poverty that it is a party serving all Chinese people. Its further two 15-year goals also aim at bringing happiness to all Chinese people so that all Chinese people are working hard to help CCP attain its goals.
US Administration Lacks Support from Congress
A state leader elected by universal suffrage cannot be sure that he has the support of the houses of representatives in his country. Theoretically, voters who have elected a state leader shall elect the leader’s party to facilitate his governance of the country. Often, however, that is not the case especially in the United States. Up to 1994 Democrats controlled Congress for 40 years but in 28 of the 40 years there were Republican presidents.
Why? Theoretically, the philosophy of American political system is democracy, i.e. a system of rule by the people. In order to prevent the democracy from turning into an autocracy, i.e. rule by a single person or political party or organization, there shall be the separation of the three powers of executive, the legislature and judiciary to prevent any of the three powers grow too great, especially the executive that may grow without limit and become an autocracy.
With the separation of three powers, in the US the power of the state leader, i.e. the president, elected by universal suffrage is limited. In its serious national economic depression from 1929 to 1933, quite a few of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs to save the economy and provide jobs and relief for poor people were overturned by the Supreme Court.
Roosevelt tried to have the Justice Procedure Reform Bill passed by Congress for removal of conservative justices, but Congress would not cooperate.
Why? It is said that the judiciary and legislative wanted to protect the separation of three powers.
Politics Driven by Interests
The true cause is the fact that in a liberal multi-party democracy politics is driven by interests.
Various party represents various interest groups. The strongest group or groups may have the majority votes and have the largest number of representatives in the houses of representatives of the country called parliament, congress or otherwise.
In a parliamentary system, the party or the coalition of parties that has the majority chooses the prime minister as the state leader in power. The prime minister has to work for the interests of the party or coalition of parties so that he will have the party’s or coalition’s support. Otherwise he will face a vote of no-confidence and loses his position. Then another prime minister will be elected if the party or coalition remains the majority. Otherwise, a new election will be held to generate a majority party or coalition, which will appoint its prime minister..
As a result, even if the country is split into various interest groups, a majority can after all be generated to enable the country to have a government supported by the majority in the houses of representatives and empowered to carry out its policies
If a state leader elected by universal suffrage is elected with a substantial majority, his party must have the support of the majority in the houses of representatives. As pointed out above in reality, that was not often the case. In the past, a US president was often elected by a substantial majority. Even so, voters would elect a house of representatives and Senate controlled by a party other than the president’s. To restrict the president? I don’t know. Perhaps, voters elect the house or houses of representatives out of some specific interests of theirs while elect the president out of their general interests.
As a result, even the Democratic Party of President Clinton who won election with quite a large majority failed to control US Congress resulting in his failure to have Congress adopt the bill on his health care plan that was one of the most prominent items on his legislative agenda.
Now the United States is a split country due to peoples different interests. President Trump could only win a majority of Electrol College vote but lost the popular vote by nearly three million votes. However, he is better than President Jorge Bush Jr., who needed a recount of votes to determine his victory with a marginal majority.
Trump’s Republican Party controlled only the House of Representatives when Trump came to office but lost control of the House in the midterm election. Trump perhaps believed that people supported him and had him elected as he promised to build a border wall between the US and Mexico to prevent entry of illegal immigrants who may take away job opportunities from American people. That was the desire of the grass root who would suffer from unemployment whenever there were some economic difficulties. However, the vested interests that control Congress especially big moneys can make lots of profits by employing the cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants.
Due to the conflicts of interests, Trump was unable to obtain funds from Congress for the construction of the border wall. His dispute with Congress on that issue finally led to the 2018-2019 government shutdown for 35 days.
Democracy Means Fight for Interests Peacefully by Votes
An autocracy is a system of government in which a single person or party (the autocrat) possesses supreme and absolute power. The decisions of this autocrat are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control.
In Europe, people fought for and finally won democracy typically through armed struggle as what people did in the French Revolution. In America, Americans won their democracy also through armed struggle namely the war of independence. The enlightened people in Europe and America established their democracy by force and then were able to fight for their interests peacefully with their equal right of voting.
Therefore the philosophy of democracy is fight for interests with vote. Though the fight is peaceful instead of military, it is not cooperation but fight for interests.
With such philosophy, people with opposing interests view one another with hostility and there is little room for cooperation among them though the decision reached through voting affects the whole country.
That is typically reflected in Brexit. In the referendum on Brexit, only 52% votes have decided Brexit against the opposition of 48%, but the government regards Brexit as the decision of the whole people and would attain the goal of Brexit at any cost. It simply ignores the views of the 48% who oppose Brexit and their concerns that Brexit may to some extent harm them.
Lack of Cooperation or Harmony
Since all the people in a democracy fight for their interests and mostly focus on their different immediate interests instead of their similar long-term interests, there is bound to be conflicts among them. Before the establishment of their democracies, they were united in fighting for their interests by force, i.e. through armed struggle. Such struggle is usually regarded as armed riots if their scale was not large and they were suppressed by the government’s much stronger forces.
If the scale was large, it may be called a civil war or even a revolution if resulting in overthrow of the existing government, especially if it is the fight for some lofty idea, ideal or goal, such as the great French revolution that finally resulted in French democracy.
Greatness of Democracy
Democracy is a great invention that puts an end to bloody armed fight among people of various different interests. In a democracy, people fight for their interests by votes. Various interested groups prove their strength by the percentage of votes they respectively have.
The group or groups without majority are certainly weaker than that or those with majority. Therefore, the majority prevails over the minority is the indispensable golden rule of democracy. Without it, there can be no democracy at all. It seems miserable for the weaker, but much better than fight and lose a war for their minority interests.
Sometimes the majority is quite small. For example, the 2016 referendum on Britain’s exit from EU was passed with a majority of only 52% against a quite strong minority of 48%. If the decision had been made by armed struggle instead of peaceful voting, the armed struggle might have been a prolonged civil war that might have caused severe damages to the country. The ability to solve such a great difference peacefully proves the superiority of democracy.
In a parliamentary system, the party or coalition in power usually has to listen to and accommodate to the interests of minority. Otherwise, there may be demonstration, strikes or other civil riots that may make the majority’s governance difficult. However, when the two sides are almost equally divided like the British people on Brexit, it is difficult for the majority to accommodate to the minority.
Advantages of US Presidential System
Usually in a presidential system, i.e the system of election of state leader by universal suffrage the majority also listen to and accommodate to the interests of the minority like in a parliamentary system. However, the system seems better than the parliamentary system. For example, voters can elect a congress controlled by the opposition to protect the interests of the minority that is unable to elect their president. In addition, in American democracy, a weak interest group can lobby the Congress for its interests. That is even better.
The above are the original advantages of US presidential system. However, now due to the accumulation of wealth, the interest groups of big money have grown so powerful that small interest groups can hardly have any influence in Congress.
As a result, the lack of cooperation and harmony is much more serious in US presidential system. It is typically reflected in government shutdowns.
Lack of Government for the People
Lincoln concluded his Gettysburg Speech with the famous passage “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Government of the people, by the people, for the people is the cream of democracy. Election of president by universal suffrage is a way to generate the government by the people but that is not exactly the case in the United States as US president is elected by Electoral College vote instead of popular vote. For example, Trump won the Electoral College vote with quite a substantial majority of 304 to 227 but lost the popular vote by nearly three million votes. With no majority of popular vote can Trump be regarded as a president elected by the people?
Only two parties dominate US politics but neither of them regards generating and maintaining a government for the people as its goal though they both claim that they serve the interests of the people. If they have identical goal of serving American people in general, why do they contend for the position of president and the control of house of representatives and senate so fiercely?
As pointed out previously, democracy is a great invention that puts an end to bloody armed fight among people of various interests and replace fight with military force by fight with votes. Therefore, it does not put an end to their fight for interests as their specific interests are different. The winner wins for its interests which may well be the opposite of the loser’s interests. Therefore, it is impossible for the winner and loser to cooperate and there is no harmony in the society. As the winner is usually the majority, we can be sure that at least the majority of people is winner and happy with their victory.
However, the inability to cooperate may result in government shutdown that harms all the people whether the winner or loser.
Government Shutdown in the United States
Since 1990 there have been government shutdowns in the United States when the executive was unable to get the legislature to pass funding legislation to finance the executive for its next fiscal year or adopt a temporary funding measure..
The most significant shutdowns since 1990 were the 21-day shutdown of 1995–1996 during the Bill Clinton administration; the 16-day shutdown in 2013 during the Barack Obama administration and the 35-day shutdown of 2018-2019 during the Donald Trump administration, which was the longest shutdown in US history.
During a government shutdown, the government has to cut the activities and services of its agencies, furlough non-essential workers, maintain the services of only essential employees related to the safety of human life or protection of property.
During Clinton administration, government shut down for five days from November 14 through November 19, 1995, and for 16 days from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996 due to conflicts between Democratic President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress over funding for education, the environment, and public health in the 1996 federal budget. The first of the two shutdowns caused the furlough of about 800,000 workers, while the second, about 284,000 workers.
During the Obama administration US federal government shut down for 16 days from October 1 to October 17, 2013 due to a dispute over implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The 16-day shutdown caused about 800,000 federal employees to be put on furlough and 1.3 million to report to work without any known payment dates. It disrupted some major government programs including those concerning Native Americans, children, and domestic violence victims and the legal processing of asylum and immigration cases and sexual assault cases, Tourism was hit hard due to the closure of national parks and institutions that caused government loss of millions of revenue. US economic growth was reduced during this period.
However, the serious impact has not deterred further government shutdown as neither the executive nor the legislature care about American people.
During Trump administration, there was a government shutdown for 35 days from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019 that set a record for the length of government shutdown. The shutdown was caused by a dispute over Trump’s demand for Congress provision of $5.7 billion in federal funds for a U.S.–Mexico border wall. As Congress failed to support Trump’s funding demand, Trump refused to sign the appropriations last passed by Congress into law. Congress could not overrule Trump’s refusal to sign and Trump even said that he would be “proud to shut down the government for border security” though according to the White House Council of Economic Advisers’ estimate, each week of the shutdown caused reduction of US GDP by 0.1 percentage.
Chapter 16 of Chan Kai Yee’s new book “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics v. Liberal Democracy”
Socialism with Chinese Characteristics v. Liberal Democracy 15
Posted: June 19, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Consultation, layman, professional, state leader, Tyranny of Majority, US 3 CommentsAbundance v. Lack of Shared Interests or Ideal
American Democracy Based on Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Americans have a great ideal of democracy, which was described by America’s great statesman former President Abraham Lincoln i.e. the democracy of government of the people, by the people and for the people.
For a long time since then Lincoln’s great ideal of democracy was American people’s great ideal. It was that great ideal that has enabled the United States to grow into a world superpower that brought benefit to not only American but also world people,
Such great ideal originates from American people’s Christian faith. It was due to such an ideal that American people fought and defeated German Fascism along with European people in Europe during World War II. It was also due to such an ideal that after the war, US government of and by the people provided generous financial aids to Europe under its Marshal Plan that contributed to Europe’s economic recovery from the damages of the war.
Failure of American Liberal Democracy Now
However, American democracy has gradually degenerated, resulting in government shutdown and failure to obtain funds for fixing and/or rebuilding at least 5,000 bridges in poor conditions. That proves that in the US there is government elected by the people but simply no government of or for the people!
The US is proud of its liberal democracy with multi-party, but in fact there are no other significant parties than the two dominant parties there. It then seems quite simple for good administration of the country as there is but the need for the cooperation of only two parties to serve the people. However, the reality is much more complicated as people vote for their own interests. What a voter wants is to elect a president, senator or congressman to advance his/her own interests instead of the lofty ideal of having a government for American people as a whole.
Recently, American people elected Donald Trump as their president. Those who elected him wanted him to build a border wall to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the US so that Americans’ job opportunities will not be taken away by illegal immigrants.
The majority of Congress members perhaps uphold the interests of those who want to employ illegal immigrants as cheap labor. Anyway, whatever their motives, employing immigrants or simply creating difficulties to hinder the existing administration so that they might have their presidential candidate elected in the next election, due to the conflict of interests, US congress refuses to provide funds for the construction of the wall. The dispute between the president and Congress has resulted in government shutdown, i.e. no government to serve the people, for some time.
Wonderful democracy! Free election and more than one Party are most important but the poor situation of no government serving the people does not worry those who advocate US multi-party liberal democracy!
The president had to and had indeed declared security emergency in order to obtain the funds necessary to build the wall, but Congress wanted to make such declaration illegal. Therefore, there might be one more government shutdown. No government for the people? Neither the president nor the Congress cared.
China’s Socialist Democracy with Chinese Characteristics
In China’s socialist system, there is only one major party, the Chinese Communist Party that is the leader of China. In order to have a government for the people, the country shall be lead by a party that belongs to the whole people and whose goal is to serve the people.
Former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Jiang Zemin had his Three Represents written into CCP constitution, the third Represent of which is that CCP represents the whole people, i.e. CCP is of the people.
Since for satisfactory administration a country has to be governed by a party with the only goal of serving the people, there can only be one leading party. If there are more parties really with the identical goal of serving the people, they will certainly be merged into the one leading party. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with China’s one leading party system with a party that puts the people first. On the contrary, such one leading party system is much better than US multi-party democracy as it, though is not elected by the people, is of the people and for the people while the ruling party in the US is elected by but is not of or for the people.
Moreover, when a person joins the CCP, he/she has to take an oath to “always be prepared to sacrifice his all for the Party and the people”.
To be more specific, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping times and again stressed that the mass of people’s wish for better life is the goal that CCP strives to attain.
That is the reason why Xi wants CCP members not to forget the oath they take when they join CCP. That is the reason why Xi stresses that CCP has to manage the party strictly.
Chinese People Share CCP’s Goals and Ideal
Having lifted all China’s a billion people from poverty, CCP is very popular in China now. Chinese people share CCP’s goals for the grand rejuvenation of China and the first and second 15-year goals. They are now working hard to help CCP attain its goals.
Chapter 15 of Chan Kai Yee’s new book “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics v. Liberal Democracy”
China is allegedly building a 2,800-mile, 30MW warship radar
Posted: June 18, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, most powerful warship radar, radar, warship radar 15 CommentsAccording to sources like the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Chinese scientists are building a 2,800-mile, 30MW warship radar.
Christopher McFadden
Created: Jun 07, 2023 04:43 AM EST
Chinese scientists are allegedly building the world’s most powerful naval radar system, according to The South China Morning Post. With a peak power of 30 megawatts, the new radar system could tip the balance in the PLA Navy’s favor by significantly extending its situational awareness in combat far over existing systems. If successfully developed, the system would enable Chinese forces to detect incoming missiles up to 2,800 miles (4,500 km) away.
To put that into perspective, that is about the distance between Southern China and Northern Australia. Typical radar systems today are limited by the curvature of the Earth and tend to have ranges of up to 2,000 miles (3,218 km), with ship-mounted systems having a far shorter range.
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The new Chinese radar can also track multiple targets within 2,175 miles (3,500 km). This happens to be the distance from Southern China to the island of Guam. The team of scientists and engineers behind the project, led by associate professor Sun Donyang from the Harbin University of Science and Technology, said the radar is suitable for installation on new Chinese warships, with the first system already in construction.
Most military vessels have radars with a limited working range of only a few hundred kilometers, as extending their range requires immense power. However, the researchers claim to have solved this problem, making the system feasible for newer ships with electric propulsion systems.
As the SCMP reports, the new active phased array radar has a significantly higher number of transceivers, tens of thousands, compared to traditional devices, as reported by the researchers. Each transceiving array unit can independently send and receive signals as a radar. When these units collaborate, they can produce pulse electromagnetic signals with a strength of up to 30 megawatts, potentially disrupting the electrical systems of any warship currently in use.
Developing long-range radar systems can pose size-related challenges. Florida’s AN/FPS-85 radar, owned by the US Space Force and considered the world’s most powerful, has a floor space of over 23,000 square meters (equivalent to three soccer fields). However, recent technological advancements have led to a reduction in the size of high-power radars. In addition, some essential components are now more readily available in larger quantities and at lower costs, SCMP explains, thanks to the widespread application of 5G technology.
Sun and his colleagues faced a significant obstacle in powering their innovative radar technology. The radar had a tendency to generate powerful electric shocks when producing signals in quick succession, which posed a risk to other electronic devices in the confined space of a vessel. Sun’s team decided to separate the radar from the ship’s power network to address this issue and prevent damage. However, this required the installation of large, high-performance capacitors to act as a buffer.
It is unclear how far along the new radar system is, and the paper referred to in the SCMP article is not readily accessible to help verify any of the details claimed.
Source: Interesting Engineering “China is allegedly building a 2,800-mile, 30MW warship radar”
Note: This is Interesting Engineering’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
Mysterious Chinese spacecraft lands after 276 days mission
Posted: June 18, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, hypersonic, space-to-earth drone, spacecraft Comments Off on Mysterious Chinese spacecraft lands after 276 days missionBY CLEMENT CHARPENTREAU
2023-05-08
Sparktour / Wikimedia Commons
A reusable spacecraft developed by China successfully landed back on Earth after spending 276 days in orbit.
The enigmatic unmanned vehicle was developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). It landed at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province, northern China on May 8, 2023, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
The state media outlet described the event as an “important breakthrough in China’s research on reusable spacecraft technology” that will provide a “more convenient and inexpensive way to and from the peaceful use of space in the future.”
Though the exact capabilities of the spacecraft are unknown, such long-endurance missions bear a resemblance to the X-37B, a space drone developed by Boeing for the United States Space Force.
In October 2019, the school bus-sized drone returned to Earth after a two-year mission. With its ability to go into low orbit and perform orbital maneuvers, some suspect that the space drone is capable of listening to communications or even intercepting satellites of other nations.
In its 2021 Annual Threat Assessment report, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said China was developing several weapons capable of targeting the satellites of the US and their allies.
“Counterspace operations will be integral to potential military campaigns by the PLA [People’s Liberation Army, China’s military – ed. note], and China has counter-space weapons capabilities intended to target US and allied satellites,” the report read.
Source: aerotime.aero “Mysterious Chinese spacecraft lands after 276 days mission”
Note: This is aerotime.aero’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
China completes “world’s fastest” hypersonic wind tunnel
Posted: June 18, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, hypersonic, JF-22, space-to-earth shuttle, wind tunnel 2 CommentsBY CLEMENT CHARPENTREAU
2023-06-08
CGTN / YouTube.cm=om
China announced the successful completion of the JF-22 wind tunnel’s final evaluation on May 30, 2023, marking a significant milestone in the country’s pursuit of hypersonic capabilities.
Named the JF-22, the wind tunnel located in the Huairou District in northern Beijing is reportedly able to simulate flights of up to 10 kilometers per second or 30 times the speed of sound, making it the fastest in the world according to China’s Institute of Mechanics, its operator.
The JF-22’s construction began in 2018 and was completed in August 2021. The tunnel is 167 meters long and four meters in diameter. Unlike most other existing facilities which use mechanical compressors to generate high-speed airflow, the 265-meter-long wind tunnel relies on chemical explosions.
Officially, the facility will support the development of a space-to-earth shuttle system. But the tunnel may also be used for developing hypersonic weapons for Beijing. These weapon systems are designed to travel at speeds greater than Mach 5, which is five times the speed of sound or approximately 6,174 kilometers per hour (3,836 miles per hour).
The Chinese military already fielded several hypersonic weapons, such as the DF-17 and DF-21 ballistic missiles. The speed and maneuverability of hypersonic missiles make them extremely challenging to detect and intercept.
Source: aerotime.aero “China completes ‘world’s fastest’ hypersonic wind tunnel”
Note: This is aerotime.aero’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
Socialism with Chinese Characteristics v. Liberal Democracy 14
Posted: June 18, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Consultation, layman, professional, state leader, Tyranny of Majority, US 1 CommentA Party with v. a Country without Long-term Goal
Difficulty for China to Attain Its Long-term Goals
An ambitious long-term goal is usually hard to attain and may cause short-term pain in the course of attaining it.
For example, China has set a long-term goal of basically realizing modernization in 15 years by 2035 followed by another 15-year goal of developing into a prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful great nation by 2050. In order to attain such great goals, China has to first switch from export- and investment-geared economic growth to innovation-, creation- and consumption-led economic growth. The switch will certainly bring lots of long-term benefits, but many enterprises will have difficulties to conduct such a switch as it may cause them to lay off quite many of their employees who lack the education and skill for such a switch.
Some of the export-oriented enterprises may move abroad to Silk Road economic belt to continue their operation, but it will be too expensive to bring their employees there. The switch, worsened by US trade war with China, may give rise to the sharp pain of massive unemployment. Such pain may last several years and may cause the state leader if elected by universal suffrage unable to be reelected or have someone from his party to be elected to succeed him and carry on his efforts. Therefore, no state leader elected by universal suffrage can set a long-term goal for a decade or longer.
China’s Track Record in Attaining a Long-term Goal
However, China has indeed attained its centenary goal of the founding of CCP in lifting its billion people from poverty.
Compared with China, no other countries have set, let alone attained any such great long-term goal.
No Need for Long-term Goal if There Is No Competitor
For the US, if there is no competitor that has set up and been making great efforts to attain lofty goals that may result in surpassing the US, there is indeed no need for the US to have a long-term goal, not even a short-term one.
When there was not a rising China that might compete with the US for world leadership, there was no threat of competition. The US arrogantly believed that it was powerful enough to fight two wars at the same time regardless of the consequences. It has thus incurred heavy debts in fighting the two wars.
The US invaded Iraq for the goal to destroy Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction but found none of such weapons there. Its troops remained there for no strategic goal at all until it found that it was debt ridden and could no longer afford remaining there.
The US invaded Afghanistan to remove the terrorist organization of Al-Queda. When Al-Queda had fled Afghanistan and its leader Osama bin Laden was finally found and killed in Pakistan, US troops remain there. People simply wonder what is US goal in fighting the war there. The US simply has no goal at all, let alone long-term goal.
Finally, China’s rise has put an end to US presidents’ happy goalless era.
Now, China’s rise has caused US former President Donald Trump to set up the goal of making the US great again by boosting US economic growth. That goal cannot be a long-term one as quite a few Americans regard such a goal as needless. They believe the US remains great now so that there is no need to make the US great again.
True China’s GDP, though growing faster than US, remains much smaller than the US and China still lags behind the US in science, technology, etc. It seems that a future US president may be forced to have and Americans will be forced to accept a goal to compete with China when China has really caught up and even surpassed the US.
However, it is still a question whether that US goal can become a long-term one.
US President Has Difficulty Even to Attain a Short-term Goal
Trump’s Republican Party controlled only the House of Representatives when Trump came to office but lost control of the House in the midterm election. Trump perhaps believed that people supported him and had him elected as he promised to build a border wall between the US and Mexico to prevent entry of illegal immigrants who may take away job opportunities from common American people. That was the desire of the grass root who would suffer from unemployment whenever there were some economic difficulties. However, the vested interests that control Congress especially big moneys can make lots of profits by employing the cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants.
Due to the conflicts of interests, Trump was unable to obtain funds from Congress for the construction of the border wall. His dispute with Congress on that issue finally led to the 2018-2019 government shutdown for 35 days.
Chapter 14 of Chan Kai Yee’s new book “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics v. Liberal Democracy”
Tiananmen's Tremendous Achievements 