American-Chinese Relations

After the huge disagreement between the US and Chinese governments over the flying of US jets in Chinese air space, new barriers have been erected over future relations. A side issue of this is the Chinese stance on human rights.

As is well known now, a US aeroplane and a Chinese fighter jet collided, resulting in the death of the Chinese pilot. This prompted the Chinese government to retain the crew of the American plane after it landed at a Chinese air base. They refused to hand over the crew in protest at the alleged spying missions they claim the Americans were undertaking.

To all intents and purposes these flyng missions are spying trips no matter how much George W. Bush states to the contrary. But it seems these flying missions are required because the Chinese refuse to, at least, discuss their shortcomings in the race to meet basic human rights.

A little reminder about the Chinese viewpoint on family planning: it is well known that China is over-populated and has one of the fastest growing population rates in the world, but their methods of control are barbaric. The Chinese are allowed only one child and any that are born afterwards are destroyed.

Being a realist, even in a barbaric world, this would be viewed as shocking. Not only that but there are many reasons why the Chinese people can't conform to this 'law'. For one, their culture dictates that they prefer to have boys. What happens when they have a girl first? Of course, they would want to try for more. And what has this initiated? An even more worrying trend - families killing first born girls to try for another child (a boy), thus overridding the supposed law.

There are other areas where China doesn't quite meet the rest of the world in terms of thinking. However, this is by far the most stark. And, despite their flaws, they still expect to trade on an international level. Further, the world's leading nations are still doing trade, so, one would ask why is there so much hypocrisy? The words 'money makes the world spin fast' spring to mind.

So, to sum up, the Chinese really can't complain about these spying missions but neither should the Americans lie about their motivations. The only worry is backlash from the massive Chinese population living in the USA. Then again, maybe not.

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