mrswdk wrote:Civil liberties in China are none of America's (or anyone else's) concern, and in any case the US doesn't have any kind of moral high horse to speak of when it comes to human rights.
If your neighbor beats his wife or starves his children, should you do or say anything about it?
Must we be morally perfect before we can speak against injustice?
Does undermining authoritarianism make the world safer or less safe?
Have Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Egypt and Afghanistan been made safer and more stable by foreign meddling designed to oust their authoritarian governments?
You didn't answer my question. =) Is authoritarianism good or bad for the world? Do you propose that authoritarianism is the best form of government?
Why would having a more democratic China create an easier relationship between the US and China?
I think the answer here is self-evident, isn't it? See the cooperation between the world's democracies. Compare them to the conflict between the world's authoritarian governments.
Most democratic countries/regions:
Rank Country / Total Score 2009-10 / Total Score 2012-13 / Rank Change (loss/gain)
1 Norway 87.4 87.8 0
2 Switzerland 84.6 85.9 +2
3 Sweden 85.5 85.8 -1
4 Finland 85.2 85.5 -1
5 Denmark 83.4 84.8 0
6 Netherlands 81.2 82.6 +1
7 New Zealand 81.6 81.3 -1
8 Germany 79.7 81.0 0
9 Ireland 79.4 80.1 0
10 Belgium 78.2 79.8 +4
11 Austria 78.5 79.4 0
12 Australia 78.2 78.9 +1
13 United Kingdom 78.6 78.4 -3
14 Canada 78.5 78.2 -2
15 France 74.8 77.7 +2
16 United States 76.7 76.9 0
17 Hong Kong SAR, China 74.7 74.6 +1 (Boo-yeah!)
18 Spain 76.7 74.3 -3
19 Portugal 74.4 73.9 0
20 Slovenia 72.9 73.9 0
Least democratic:
92 Armenia 44.5 45.9 -3
93 Kyrgyz Republic 44.0 45.7 -3
94 Venezuela, RB 46.9 45.5 -8
95 Madagascar 43.0 45.2 -1
96 Zambia 40.2 44.4 +5
97 Russian Federation1 43.5 44.4 -4
98 Mozambique 42.8 44.0 -3
99 Burkina Faso 40.3 43.0 +1
100 Morocco 41.3 42.9 -2
101 Uganda 43.8 41.7 -9
102 Burundi 41.1 41.0 -3
103 Guinea 34.4 40.4 +7
104 Nigeria 37.0 39.9 +1
105 Egypt, Arab Rep. 1 34.5 39.3 +4
106 China1 38.2 39.2 -3 (You're going the wrong way!)
107 Bahrain1 42.3 38.7 -10
108 Togo 35.8 38.3 -2
109 Pakistan 35.6 35.9 -2
110 Cote d'Ivoire 27.6 34.0 +2
111 Yemen, Rep. 1 29.2 29.6 0
112 Syrian Arab Republic1 35.2 28.3 -4
Source:
http://democracyranking.org/
Which countries are more stable? Which are better neighbors? Is there a correlation between more democratic countries and more stable countries? Do you think China benefits by ranking comparatively closer to Egypt, Pakistan, and Syria?
Political freedom and capacity for innovation and creativity have nothing to do with each other. China's problems in promoting innovation and a creative mindset stem from its education system's persisting tradition of favoring rote learning and fact retention over problem solving and lateral thinking. To build an innovation economy China needs to reform its education system, not its political one.
Nonsense. Legislation can either stifle or nurture creativity and innovation. Everything is connected, politically, socially, culturally, economically. To reform China's education system requires a reformation of its political system, unless you're proposing another Cultural Revolution. China has already taken steps to ban "Western ideology" from textbooks. Is this the kind of educational reform you have in mind? (Strangely, no one seems to include socialism or communism within the ill-defined "Western ideology" category, despite Engels and Marx being German.)
And yes, hooray for Sweden! Northern Europe by all accounts is the best place to live on the planet.
and i still think if china works for chinese who are we to argue:)?
