Direction of the Chinese Superpower

China is a superpower only in the sense of possessing economic clout and military might. China is this kind of superpower simply because most Chinese people care nothing about the third facet (of superpower greatness): promoting human rights and democracy.

Consider how the Chinese handle North Korea. Driven by famine and brutal oppression, hundreds of thousands of North Korean refugees have fled to China. In response, the Chinese spit upon them and aggressively conduct periodic raids to round them up by the hundreds. Chinese soldiers promptly transfer the refugees into Korean custody.

The North Korean refugee had one request for her captors before the young Chinese soldiers led her back across the steel-girdered bridge on the Yalu River that divides two "socialist allies".

"She asked for a comb and some water because she said that if she was going to die she could not face going to heaven looking as dirty and dishevelled as this," recounted a relative of one soldier who was there.

[...] The soldiers, who later told family members of the incident, marched the woman, who was about 30, to the mid-point of the bridge. North Korean guards were waiting. They signed papers for receipt of the woman, who kept her dignity until that moment. Then, in front of the Chinese troops, one seized her and another speared her hand -- the soft part between thumb and forefinger -- with the point of a sharpened steel cable, which he twisted into a leash.

"She screamed just like a pig when we kill it at home in the village," the soldier later told his relative. "Then they dragged her away." [1]

North Korean refugees hiding in China have no rights whatsoever. They cannot appeal to the Chinese authorities for help because Beijing will send the refugees to certain torture and death in North Korea. [2] So, the refugees live a life of quiet desperation.

One refugee hiding in China wrote a letter to Radio Free Asia and pleaded for help.

But the Korean-Chinese people abused us because we couldn't speak Chinese. They arranged jobs for us but took our wages. All of us North Korean refugees have nowhere to go to complain. This has lasted for six years. I don't know what to do now. I have thought many times about committing suicide. If I return home, I am afraid of the security police and if the Chinese police arrest me I may be repatriated to North Korea. [3]

While this monstrous brutality is occurring, the Chinese sing the praises of their superpower status. They feel neither guilt nor shame over the horrific injustice that they are inflicting on the helpless refugees.

As China's economic and military power grows, the Chinese increasingly will spread their despicable system of values to the rest of the world.

In Ethiopia for instance, which has seen much of its European aid suspended because of gross human-rights abuses, China is believed to have offered to make good any shortfall. In Sudan, which has been accused of genocide, Chinese state firms have built a refinery and are getting involved in production. In repressive Equatorial Guinea, China is also sniffing out opportunities to rival the dominance of western companies. [4]

The American response to China has been flawed. In a rush to deal with the Chinese ogres, Washington has tried to ally with New Delhi. Though India is indeed a democracy, it is not a Western nation. The Indian system of values assault Western sensibilities: e.g., the Indians reject the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and have aggressively developed nuclear weapons.

Instead of aligning ourselves with the Indians, we Americans should find strength in our own system of values. Western values have created the very Western society into which both Indians and Chinese (who hypocritically reject Western values) fight with tooth and nail to enter.

How can we find strength in our own system of values? We should encourage Tokyo, Canberra, and Wellington to build the Asia Pacific Union (APU), structured along the lines of the European Union (EU) and NATO. The APU shall spread Western values in Southeast Asia and shall treat China in the same way that the EU treated the Soviet Union. [5]

note
Many members of the Chinese Community Party (CCP) have emigrated to the United States. While they enjoy the freedoms and prosperity here, their colleagues in the CCP continue to brutalize the helpless North-Korean refugees. [6]

reference
1. Michael Sheridan, "China on alert over a nuclear neighbour", "The Sunday Times", 2006 October 8.
2. Bill Powell, "Long Walk to Freedom", "Time" (Asian Edition), 2006 April 24.
3. "Korean Service Listener and Reader Comments", Radio Free Asia (RFA), 2006.
4. "China and Africa -- No questions asked", "The Economist", 2006 January 19.
5. reporter, "A Proposal: Japan, the Asia Pacific Union, and Western Values", 2006 October 9.
6. Jiang Xueqin, "Letter From China", "The Nation", 2002 March 4.