Opinion: A Divided House

China and America

When two elephants fight, the grass suffers – Igbo proverb

I was wondering what the world will look like should China attack America or vice versa. It’ll be a disaster, a human-made catastrophe. But I’m not only weighing the destruction that will follow a war between the two but the economic stress it will cause the world. Or maybe I’m a bit exaggerating over two giants fighting for global financial leadership and control? Let’s imagine a situation where human progress (medicine, agriculture, education, health, infrastructure, etc.) and civilisation came under attack, and all had to be wiped out. What a colossal waste it’ll be! The happy fact is that wars are avoidable. All we need to do is sit and talk around it.

America is gradually driving away Chinese products and excluding its social media apps from its internet space. On another note, I’m aware that China has been in operating before now the Great Firewall, which blocks Western internet structures from accessing information from China. The Great Firewall also censors and blocks people from accessing foreign websites. So this Trump and Xi dilemma has turned into a tit-for-tat affair; a tooth for a chin, an eye for an ear.

Let me stray a bit. But if I was president, I’ll draw up a table to count the costs of war against the values of peace. If worthless peace can get my nation more jobs in place of economic hardship, more food in the area of starvation, and more life instead of death; then I’ll choose it. I’ll dwell on lessons from past wars – that alone should be a good deterrent for anyone.

A Divided Chinese House

A house divided against itself cannot stand. Abe Lincoln

I read stories of young Tibetian volunteers who helped carry supplies to the Indian army stationed at the Chinese border. And they often did this by taking fatty food and equipment on their backs through some of the most expressive and inhospitable ranges on earth. It’s strange to see members of a country help a rival prepare to fight their nation. Something is amiss.

When people are held against their will, freedom of expression becomes costly. Its price tag goes a little extreme – imprisonment or worse. There are concentration camps in a supposedly ‘peaceful modern society. Yet there’s no war. I’m left to wonder about the rate of human rights abuses recorded in China and how easy it is to cover them up without drawing public attention. China is making progress economically; this is what we in the so-called Third World countries believe. But success in material things is not good enough.

I have a couple of questions to ask. How can a society, economically and militarily strong stand on the rights and privileges of its most excellent resource – her people? Is the Chinese public aware of their government’s actions and decisions but chose to keep silent? If yes, does it mean that they are helpless, just like other minorities?

The ‘Chinese nation’ is divided. Hong Kong protested the new law, Tibet is seeking her nationhood (with a government-in-exile), Taiwan is on red alert for any Chinese aggression, and Xinjiang is reeling in oppressive concentration camps.

Shouldn’t this be a clear warning to the Chinese government and her advisers that all is not well from within?