Learned the other day about the inter-country immigration that occurs in china, and how a flawed system tends to inadvertently oppress migrant workers throughout various provinces and cities across china. People born in a city are pretty well set up, they are allowed to use the health systems in city, have their children go to the city schools, and use the government provided services in the city itself. Where you are born is the services you can use, so if you need a major surgical operation, better hope you are not a migrant worker 2000 miles away from your place of birth. This sucks for migrants and their families, because people often marry, then the spouse that works typically leaves the villages to make money in the cities to provide for their family back home. This tends to show the breakdown of familial life in China, the oppression of migrant workers in cities, and the inability of migrants to be given the services they need to flourish in the state by the government. This is the flaw of an authoritarian regime, and it is becoming more of topic of discussion in recent years, with much more reform being discussed by government and party officials.

Recently in class has been an increased discussion on the importance of the environment to the Chinese people and government officials. Reasons vary from simply caring for the environment, to not wanting old people to become sick and then become reliant on a governmental health system that is not necessarily prepared to handle so many patients at once. Because of this, many people are calling for shifts in environmental policy within the Chinese government itself.

The argument made is that because the Chinese government is an authoritarian regime, it is better able to pass and enforce environmental policies on the people. In a way I guess this would make sense, primarily because the people really couldn’t argue with these policies, however the economic ramifications to such policy could be disturbing, which is why you don’t see so much environmental being passed as would be needed to stem the tide of widespread pollution in china.

China and North Korea are traditionally seen together as allies, or at least neightbors that were mutually beneficial for each other over the decades. China has been the primary trading partner with North Korea, and is responsible for upholding the North Korean economy, purchasing a great deal of coal from the North Korean state. North Korea was a benefit to China as it provided a geological and geopolitical barrier between communist China and the US backed South Korean republics and Japan. However recent events have created waves in the diplomacy between the North Korean regime and the central government of China. How is their small traditional ally becoming such a prominent threat? Well, they are threatening the US, and have consistently pursued the means of transforming their threats into realistic possibilities. North Korea over the last several months has pursued nuclear technology, and a missile platform capable of striking Japan at least, the US west coast at most. This has created the necessity of the United states to respond to this threat. Such responses have become prevalent in the form of the THAAD anti ballistic missile defense system, the re-upping of US Naval presence in the South Pacific, and a renewal of support to the Japanese and indirectly to the Taiwanese in general. This goes contrary to what the Chinese need right now, as they desire to expand their influence in the Asia pacific regions. This becomes impossible with US military presence within the region. In order for China to reach its long term goals, they are beginning to realize that they will need to rein n the North Korean regimes, subsequently supporting US interests in the region in order to calm US military presence as well. By so doing, the Chinese will be better able to exert some of their interests in the region under a watchful US eye within the years to come.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/06/chinas-xi-arrives-for-trump-summit-talks-expected-on-n-korea.html

I read another article today about how President Trump and President Xi Jinping will be meeting today to further relations between the two countries. The article highlighted the issues currently between the United States and China, particularly regarding the nuclear threat posed by the North Koreans (more specifically US involvement to counter this threat such as the THAAD system being installed) and the economic relationship between the two states with each being quite interdependent on the other. This article however seemed a little more prone to depict the US as being more reliant on the Chinese than the Chinese are on the US….this seems a bit unfounded to me. True the Chinese are our second most important import/export trade partner (second to Canada as noted in the article), however this would mean the Chinese are equally dependent on the US market to keep up their economy as well. Because of these pressing matters at hand, it would seem that both of these states President’s will need to establish a more workable framework that will allow for compromise between the two states. Maybe the US could take a softer stance against North Korea and its THAAD missile sites if the Chinese were to rein in their annoying little neighbor. Regardless, the US and China need to work together in the future. Our economies are closely knit together, and the better each can work together the stronger each country will be.

Source: http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/trump-meets-xi/

I read an article in the news the other day that emphasized how China’s reusable resources industry was growing exponentially within the last few years. It cited examples of solar farms sprouting up all over the country side, which initially creates the illusion that china must be doing something right in the fight against global warming and their deteriorating environment around them. However, if measured based strictly off utility, these measures are like trying to put out a forest fire with one five gallon bucket of water. Why is this? Well for starters China simply does not have the right infrastructure to support renewable energy, which means that they can have fields full of solar panels and whatnot, however it won’t matter because the surrounding districts will not be able to utilize this potential energy as they don’t have the resources or equipment necessary to harness it. This poses a critical problem for the Chinese central government. They rely on people trusting in the system to take care of their problems. A major concern of the people is their deteriorating environment, the CCP does what they can, but many of these problems need to be taken care of at the local levels, which often don’t run smoothly or efficiently at all. This poor environment is a result of rapid industrialization by the Chinese to compete with other economic super powers across the globe, in order to maintain this economic competitiveness, the Chinese need to be able to continue to produce and out produce its competitors in the global market. This subsequently kills off much of the CCP’s desire to invest in renewable resources as it could potentially harm them economically, which would cause disturbances amongst the local peoples. Finally, the failing environment negatively impacts the peoples health, which creates issues for the central government to provide adequate healthcare for the people. This constant cycle between the environment, economics and health of the people has put China on a path of potential ruin. How the Chinese government acts within the next several years will determine whether China can become the regional/global power they desire to be, or whether they recede into themselves in an attempt to maintain stability within their own state. It goes without saying, but China seems to be between a rock and a hard place.

Source: http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060001765

In class we were given the opportunity to view a documentary of a democratic process conducted in a Chinese elementary school. The purpose of the “election” was to allow students to choose who they wanted as their class monitor. Three students were selected, and were told to campaign against each other. Keep in mind that these students are only around the ages of 9-12, possibly younger. In the beginning these students had a limited or non-existent idea of what democracy actually is or what its purpose was. The young girl selected by the teaching staff was shy, and ultimately didn’t truly want to run, however with her parents goading and support she wound up doing her best, but had a shy, weak and regretful attempts at winning support. The next was a fat, ambitious boy who wanted to control his other classmates. He used his parents too in order to gain approval and a cunning edge over his opponents. He was a stronger speaker, using liberal ideals to persuade his classmates into following him, calling his opponents dictators and weak minded and selfish. He also had a bossier edge to him as well, commanding respect from the rest of the class. The “incumbent”, if you will, was a bit more mild mannered, believed in strict adherence to the rules, a maintenance of the standards, and used rewards to persuade people to vote for him. Ultimately, this documentary shows the nature of Chinese Democracy at work starting in the classroom. The teachers choose who will run for class monitor, the students have the idea that they are choosing who they want, when ultimately they are choosing who will give them a more comfortable, secure life style. In the end, the young child who follows and enforces the rules wins in a landslide, and the documentary cuts out showing him enforcing the rules and standards as they have been prior to the election.