India struggles to catch China (BBC news)

[chooo123]

Chinese government used to prevent the spread of separatist's activities and stop terrorist attack at embryonic stage.
In this point of view, I agree with China's government, never acting soft to separatists.

[India1989]

All i can say is that India is infested with terrorists. China should be very happy that they don't have sad neighbours like India does.

I don't mean China and India.

Its like India is completely infected with terrorists. Everwhere there is atleast 10 of them.

[inkink]

Hi Miqsh,

Interesting comment on our "communist" goverment, although almost no one who's familiar with Chinese politics would seriously believe communism is still the ideological foundation of the current Chinese government.

It is, however, a widely held view among many China observers that the Chinese goverment does solve some social issues very efficiently, if not totally fairly, especially when compared with traditional democracies, such as India. The current Chinese administration under President Hu, however, is showing signs that it is working on promoting social equality instead of pursuing efficiency at the cost of polarizing the society.

I have no comment on whether your goverment is better than mine. I believe each country must find its own path and every nation's fate should be determined by its own people, and every nation's self-choice should be respected.

As for pollution, I believe China needs to do a better job at legislation and regulations, and more importantly, effective enforcement of exisiting environment laws and regulations. In the long term, however, I think the ultimate solution to the environmental problems lies in promoting Science and technology, and improving people's quality of life through sustainable development instead of blindly abusing the planet.

As for the diplomatic relationship between China and Pakistan, sadly there are many geopolitical factors convoluted in here.

For example, India's current strategic ally, the United States, is also a close ally of General Musharaf, and has been a major weapon provider to Pakistan for a few decades. That, however, does not prevent the United States from providing India with nuclear fuels and related technologies at the same time. Similarly, while China and Pakistan has enjoyed an amicable relationship, China and India also have tremendous commercial and political ties. For example, China has been a strong supporter for India's UNSEC permanent membership bid. China also supports an Indian diplomat to become the next UN secretary general. We also have a huge and fast increasing trade with India.

Also, although China has a pre-dominant strategic, especially nuclear advantage over India, the Chinese goverment has never showed any strategic interest in the India sub-continent in the recent decades. We are simply not interested in any territorial conflict with any neighbors. Our strategic focus is to build a balance and trust with other global powers in the region, such as Russia, US, Japan, and India, in an age when China's rise is perceived as something of a de-stablization. China has been arguably the biggest benefactor of the current global strategic and economical framework and it is in our vital interest to keep the system stable and working, instead of disturbing it.

In short, China wants stability in the relationship with our neighbors, including India.

On the other hand, with every Indian test-launch of missle, the Indian media and some India goverment officials indicate it is a show of force toward Beijing. And if you look at the designed range of those missiles, they are definitely not designed to target Pakistan. In this aspect, India's posture does nothing toward building a Sino-India relationship build on mutual trust.

However, Beijing has been by and large ignoring any Indian test missle launch, because we want to be India's friend.

So while some Indian people believe Beijing supports Pakistan to spite India, it is simply not true. Both Pakistan and India are our neighbors, and we want to be a good neighbor to both nations.

Especialy, when it comes to Sino-India relationship, I believe in order for us to build a even stronger friendship, both of our governments need to do more to build trust and good will. It cannot be done by only one side.

to inkink,
thanks for answering my question. i see that u are also having lots of problems within the country. maybe india would have comparatively lesser problems if ours was a communist government. pollution has been and will be a major part of our lives. so what do u suggest that would be a step to limit these problems as much as possible.
and can u clarify if the chinese are giving their support to pakistan for its terrorist activities??

[inkink]

Hi! Slash,

Yes! China and India are so much similar in almost every social aspect (traditions, values, religion, culture, colonial past) and we face many identical problems.

I do not think the current social unrests existing in China today are religious in nature. Most of the incidents I have heard are essentially triggered by vying economical interests, the polarization of society, and suppressive/corrupt local goverment officials.

The Uyghur separatist movement has more to do with separatism, rather than the religion of Islam. And since the Uyghur separatists often target civilian life, infrastructure and civilian goverment officials with bombing and other forms of violence, I categorize them as terrorists. In fact, some of these separatist groups are also publicly listed as terrorist groups by the United States government.
Quite a few of these separatists received military training from Al Qaeda. Some of them fought as Taliban fighters against the coalition forces led by the US in Afghanistan. The US still holds a few of these guys in Guantanamo.

The Chinese goverment does not promote any specific religion, but contrary to what's widely believed by people not-so-familiar with China, it does not suppress any religious practice or organization either. In the busiest commercial district in Beijing, you would find a famous Christian church with people worshipping every Sunday. In my hometown there is a large muslim community and muslim Mosques are some of the city's most significant landmarks.

Maybe you have heard about the Falungong incident. It has very little to do with religion either. If you have read the book "Spin the Falun" writtin by Li Hong Zhi, the founder of falungong, you would probably laugh your rear-end off and agree with me that it's a suicidal cult.

Even so, the Chinese government had allowed the Falungong to exist and practice whatever stupidity they believe in for about a decade. What really caused the clamp down on Falungong in 1998 was the group's attempt to become a political force. In 1998 the Falungong members from around the country staged a blockade around the central goverment complex in Beijing. That became the last straw that doomed the group. Today, Mr. Li Hongzhi happily lives in his New Jersey mansion with his very much worldly riches gleaned from his followers.

In my mind, the clamp down on Falungong seems a bit of an over-reaction: after all people have the right to be stupid. However, I agree, as most Chinese do, that it was a by-and-large good decision made by the government.

Back on the subject of Islam and the Jihadism:

I agree very much with 靓虬客 (which by the way, means Guy with a Beard), in that China has had a muslim population for many centuries peacefully, and that China has always had a culture of diverse religious belief systems.

I also agree with 靓虬客 to the extent that the Uyghur separatist movement has little to do with Islam, but everything to do with the political ideology of secession.

On the subject of Islam itself. It's my view that the perceived backward and violent nature of Islam really has little to do with the religion, but everything to do with the plight and the historical humiliations faced by Palestinians, Lebanese, and other Arab nations. Having been colonized, invaded and occupied by the west ourselves in our not so far history, the Chinese have a strong emotional association with and sympathy for the Palestinians and the Lebanese. As a people we still have collective memories of what it feels like to be bombed as civilians, what it feels like to be slaves in your own land. Largely for this reason our government policy and popular mentality have been traditionlly sided with the Arab nations during the many Palestine/Lebanon-Israel conflicts. Our support and sympathy for the Arab nations are based on our common colonial past of being humiliated and occupied, not because China has a pro-Islam policy per-se.

I hope this clarifies why we have Islamic separatists/terrorists at home, and support the Arab nations at the same time. It's conscience, not ideology or religion.

Having said that, I also believe that it serves no practical purpose to kill, kidnap or bomb Israeli civilians either. If anything, firing katyusha blindly into Israel has provem more harmful to Lebanese & Palestinians than it harms the Israelis. I do not believe that violence can be stopped by more violence, injustice can be rectified by more injustice. I think it's more useful and practical to try to build an economy and a normal life, rather than making meaningless threat to Israel. If we all focus on who has the right to what piece of land, the circle of violence and killing will never stop until the earth is engulfed in a huge nuclear fireball.

I do ahve a few questions for you, Slash and other Indians on this board:

- What, from the Hindu perspective, is the ultimate reason for terrorism in India?
- What goals do these terrorists/bombers want to achieve?
- In your opinion, are these achievable by what they are doing now? Are these goals achieve by any means at all?
- If you are the policy maker, are you willing to make some consessions to have peace?
- What role do you think India will play in Asia and globally in another 50 years?
- How would you deal with Pakistan? What do you think the India-Pak relationship will be like in 2050?
- What's your view of the current conflict in the middle-east? What would you do if you were Ehud Olmert? What would you do if you were Fouad Siniora? What would you do if you were Condi Rice?
- What's your view of the currently very tense China-Japan relationship?
- Do you like Chinese food?
- Have you watched any Chinese movies? Including Hongkong or Taiwan movies?

My friend you just described the problem India faces as well. Apart from the ageing population, India and China faces the exact same problems.
I am shocked to know that even China faces Islamic terrorism even though they are pro-islamic(atleast they have no conflicts with any Islamic state).

Can you please elaborate what the reasons for the communal unrest.
Is it because they aren't allowed to practice their religious belief(since China is Communist state) or is it because of some other reasons.Are you'll still facing these problems?
Also what are your views on Islamic terrorism and do you believe they are freedom fighters like many Chinese on this board believe?

If you have any questions about India do ask me .

Cheers

[observer]

See so there is Islamic terrorism in China in the sense that the Uighurs want a separate Islamic country for themselves and carry out terrorist acts to achieve it. Also I've read many reports in Western newspapers that the Uighurs and other Muslims in China have to have government appointed religious leaders in their mosques and religious books approved by the government so they are angry at not having autonomy in all this.

inklink,
Regarding your post about China looking for stability and not looking for hostilities in the region, you see, every country tries to flex its strategic muscles around it. China does it, India does it, much smaller countries do it. Besides after 1962 the machinations in the region for many decades were such that they included Pakistan, China and the US against India. Pakistan often thought China would help it in the case of a war with India and launched wars against it. It got arms and ammunition from the US for such wars with India and archived conversations of US officials and accounts by former US diplomats reveal that the US and China often held parleys talking about how to contain India. So naturally the Indian people developed mistrust for China and believed that India is safe with an effective deterrent capability. Hence it has developed military programs with deterrence in mind. We can't really talk about others' weapons programs when the whole region is bristling with weaponry. China has loads of nukes and missiles pointing at various countries from the US to Taiwan to India. Pakistan has missiles and warheads pointing at India. So any thoughts about others' weapons development should be preceded by analyzing what prompted it in the first place

[chooo123]

So what do they say in this discussion. I really want to know.

as I have said people go around insulting India and looking at their bad points. So what if we failed to launch a rocket. We have launched more the 60 in the past and we learn from our failures. Atleast we are trying and are fully capable of launching it and are among the elite 6 countries who has this kinda capabilities.

I agree that infrastructure is really bad in India. We are slow in developing it .But with all the problems we will develop slowly hopefully.

Yeah i was confused too. Why did he suddenly mentioned jaipur which is far away from Delhi.

To India1989:
here are some direct translated text Chinese people said. May lot of errors.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Author: Next station ash wolf reply date: 2006-7-25 12:05:50
hope China to be able the democracy

Author: Iguitar reply date: 2006-7-25 12:18:41
lacks the people commanding general to become the Chinese economy development the stumbling obstacle. . The political system one day cannot obtain the reform, the Chinese economy can have the danger. China is surpassed by India is only the sooner or later matter. . . Only reforms, thorough political reform. . . .

Author: Surelaw reply date: 2006-7-25 12:22:09 passed by

Author: Setupgame reply date: 2006-7-25 12:36:29
people carry on the comparison to China and India are such naturalness. They all have 1 billion above the population, every year economy grow all in 10% above

Author: Liwang3891 reply date: 2006-7-25 13:06:09
everybody thought the question too to be simple. The democratic reform first China is prosperous and powerful, otherwise, China was finished? Is the such simple question? Does a nation’s life and death, depend on such a speech? The democratic reform question is not that simple. China’s leader is not a fool. I acknowledged in basic unit, corrupt, the embezzlement, breaks the law the phenomenon too was common has even let the person despair but if could jump out these, looked from a national angle, I but actually thought these questions sooner or later could be solved. The democracy are not depend on force to reform but are developing a spot along with the economy development. I thought China now looks like a fold white paper but the economical development look like to tow this paper by hand. So long as the economy continues to develop, this paper sooner or later can pulled flat. Obviously the economy may solve the democracy problem. But the democracy not necessarily may solve the economic problem. Poor democratic countries are plenty. India is one.

Author: I come from Mars reply date: 2006-7-25 13:41:43 prefers the democracy the grass, does not want the despotic seedling.

India has been democratic for a long time, should have surpassed China according to yours logic only then? Ha-ha, said good, governs the great nation like to boil slightly fresh, must the soft fire, otherwise has bred confusion, regretted without enough time, which fool Russia had a look, but actually democratic, brought this country truly very poor, full street beggers, prostitutes, crimial, the common people have insufficient bread, this is not a very good example, so long as exists any causes the country chaotic political move all to have to be extremely careful, cannot the hugging lucky psychology rashly carry on the stride reform, I thought this kind of reform every step should be very good, first slowly starts from the basic unit to carry on the democratic reform, From village to township to county to as directly under the provincial party committee as entire country. China does not have the Indian democracy. If China equally has India’s democracy, the situation can be worse than India. China indeed needs the democracy.

The so-called democracy-solving-everything discussion simply is the nonsense talks. India’s democratic already 60 years, India has accepted the world powerful nations’ aid much bigger than China by far, whose sanction India has not received in 98 years, moreover India is an English language country, how come India behind China in many respects? On this realistic example, I did not think the democracy is the multi-purpose antidote. China's democracy construction is imperfect, may say is the unusual insufficiency, how many countries but China has in the achievement world which under the commumist leadership obtains to be allowed to compare?

Why didn'tyou guys go to comparison between China and Germany?

Looks like South Korea, developed under the despotic system, then maintains stably with the democratic system.

Knows Spain Franco the elder brother regime. How Spain got democratic?

How does the Taiwan Kuomintang get down?

Nobody cups one hand in the other across the chest to deliver the democracy?

What does Gorbachev calculate? Only thrown down the democracy from the space, pounds Russia the shock.

[chooo123]

More translation:


Is democracy = prosperous and powerful?
Same year Asian four dragons (Singapore, HK, Taiwan, Korea) all dictatorship countries time, India already was the democratic model. The democracy is not a goal, is the process. wants to manage, uses any management in any stage. We now lack of the words-power, also is the strength. The American has the words-power, he said who wrong who is wrong, do what he wants to do. Despises person which does not have the soul. Has not gone to India now all matters only to have I to see with one's own eyes only then can believe
Very obvious, in the discussion majority of people don’t oppose the democracy, but opposed "radical democracy".

Many friends all say very much understood, the democracy is good, but certainly not necessarily is suitable for the present China, it can directly cause the low efficiency, moreover in the Chinese national quality generally not high situation, the very possible government to be kidnapped by the national people, likes present the India! I am believed the Chinese democracy that one day certainly can arrive, moreover I believed we can really see that day! But that one day had to be China already initially completes modernized time!

This report writes very real. I have stayed in India a period of time, truly India also has not the superiority to China in comparison, but their English good, although the accent is strong, the good and evil also is an English.

[inkink]

Some of the western media has very much of a bi-polar disorder when it comes to anything related to China & Russia. For example, Islamic extremism when targeting America, Israel or Europe is dubbed "terrorism". When the same thing happens in Russia or China, they are simply "dissidents". We in China have coined a term for this phenomenon:"cold-war mentality".

By the same token, many European countries have a anti-semitism law, under which publications are censored for any violence-inciting material. Does that mean Muslims living in western Europe should rise up against the governments?

In China's Uyghur autonomous region, there are laws which stupilate a certain percentage of Uyghur and other ethnic groups' representation in both the executive and legislative branches of the government, as well as universities and other public institutions. This percentage is usually well above the percentage of those ethnic groups in the general population. In America this practice is called "Affirmative Action". Often deemed as a major social progress, "Affirmative Action" policy in America has a relatively short history when compared to the Chinese version, which started in the early 1950's. Have you ever read about China's affirmative action policy in any western media? I guess not.

Just another anecdotal evidence of the western media's cold-war paranoia: in the last few month a Chinese blogger famous for his pro-democracy blogging shuts his own blog down. His home page simply says "this blog is temporarily closed due to un-planned outage". In about 24 hours BBC reported the incident and concluded China's media censorship authority has forced the shut down. In about 48 hours all major western media including AP, CNN, etc. reported the same, citing tightening Chinese media censorship.

Two days later, the blog re-opened. It turned out the blogger was just sick of the western media's paranoia and decided to teach them a lesson. When journalists trained to be impartial and objective make the direct assumption of censorship from the simple phrase of "un-plnned outage", you know how deeply biased the western media is.

In short, I am not a fan of the Chinese media, but I am equally disgusted with the western media's "cold-war" paranoia.

Regarding strategic muscle. It's funny that in the past decades China felt a sense of threat and being surrounded very much similar to what you described. In fact, in 1962 PM Nehru asked the US and UK for help after being defeated by the PLA. I've also ready there was a trace of CIA influence in Nehru's decision to advance north.

It's especially interesting (I am not being sarcastic here) that India felt there's a China-US conspiracy to contain India, which from an Chinese perspective simply does not make sense. To the very contrary, from the Chinese perspective, PM Nehru changed India's "Non-alliance movement" strategic position in the 50's to a position of "Containing China" in the 60's.

In retrospect, I think the two super-powers at the time often played both sides, to gain an upper-hand over each other.

See so there is Islamic terrorism in China in the sense that the Uighurs want a separate Islamic country for themselves and carry out terrorist acts to achieve it. Also I've read many reports in Western newspapers that the Uighurs and other Muslims in China have to have government appointed religious leaders in their mosques and religious books approved by the government so they are angry at not having autonomy in all this.

inklink,
Regarding your post about China looking for stability and not looking for hostilities in the region, you see, every country tries to flex its strategic muscles around it. China does it, India does it, much smaller countries do it. Besides after 1962 the machinations in the region for many decades were such that they included Pakistan, China and the US against India. Pakistan often thought China would help it in the case of a war with India and launched wars against it. It got arms and ammunition from the US for such wars with India and archived conversations of US officials and accounts by former US diplomats reveal that the US and China often held parleys talking about how to contain India. So naturally the Indian people developed mistrust for China and believed that India is safe with an effective deterrent capability. Hence it has developed military programs with deterrence in mind. We can't really talk about others' weapons programs when the whole region is bristling with weaponry. China has loads of nukes and missiles pointing at various countries from the US to Taiwan to India. Pakistan has missiles and warheads pointing at India. So any thoughts about others' weapons development should be preceded by analyzing what prompted it in the first place

[Kabir]

Hello Inkink,

I do ahve a few questions for you, Slash and other Indians on this board:

- What, from the Hindu perspective, is the ultimate reason for terrorism in India?

I can tell you from my prespective only. I'm not a speaker for Hindus, but a Hindu myslef. So, whatever I say is my opinion only.

Hindu, Muslim hatred palnted by British is the main reason. We have not been at peace with Pakistan since the partition times. When Pakistan failed to attack and conquer India, they started a different war, in a different mode, in the name of Kashmir. As per the agreement signed by Raja Hari Singh, Kashmir is in the domain of India. Pakistan started and continuously supported this so called "Jihaad". Every now and then we see pictures of Pakistani training camps, where our death material is prepared. India has yet not attacked Pakistan inspite of having complete proof of thier activities.
Also, every time an illegal consignment of amunition is seized by intelligence, it includes Chinese wepons in large quantities.

http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/archives/archives2000/kashmir20001011c.html

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060724/j&k.htm

And many such more.

- What goals do these terrorists/bombers want to achieve?

Terrorists have no objectives. They are executors. The main objective as India see's it today, is Pakistan's evil will to create unrest in our country and impede our economic growth.

- In your opinion, are these achievable by what they are doing now? Are these goals achieve by any means at all?

It can never be achievable. We all leave our homes without knowing whether we will come back home safely or not. But that does not deter us from carrying on our normal lives. India has time and again shown that all these terrorist attacks would not make India kneel.

- If you are the policy maker, are you willing to make some consessions to have peace?

Who won't? But, then there should be an understanding that, "that's it". No nonsense would be tolerated after that. There should be absolute zero tolerance. Any country, then who participates in crime or terrorist activities should face wrath of the entire region.

- What role do you think India will play in Asia and globally in another 50 years?

We need to improve internaly before thinking about Asia and global affairs.
As an Indian, I want atleast the basic infrastructure to develop. Medical and education should be free and well taken care of. Erradication of any quota system or reservation based policy. High qualification to contest and stand for elections. Simple but effective tax system. Effective law enforcement agencies. The list can go on. For all of these to happen, we need to have peace, so that finance is redirected from defence to social welfare.

- How would you deal with Pakistan? What do you think the India-Pak relationship will be like in 2050?

I think it's been a high time we have been lenient with Pakistan. India should display and give deadline to Pakistan to remove all militant infrastructure and look forward for the growth of the region. If they agree, good for them. If not, India should destroy all militant outfits and infrastructure.

If India continues the way, by 2050, the situation would be the same.

- What's your view of the current conflict in the middle-east? What would you do if you were Ehud Olmert? What would you do if you were Fouad Siniora?

As Ehud Olmert, I would have probably looked at destroying only militant infrastructure and not civilian lives.
As Fouad Siniora, I would have banned and discouraged Hezbollah from attacking Israel. Any act of cowardice should be discouraged.

- Do you like Chinese food?

I just LOVE chinese food. Though, I don't know if it is actual Chinese or Indian version of Chinese food.
Chicken Dim Sums, Crispy Chicken salt and pepper, Veg Manchurian with Hakka Noodles, Hot and Sour Chicken soup are some of my favourites.

- Have you watched any Chinese movies? Including Hongkong or Taiwan movies?

I'm fan of Chinese Kung-Fu movies. Some of my favourites are "Enter the Dragon", "36 chambers of Shaolin Temples", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Drunkun Master".
Then all Jackie Chan movies "Police story", "Mr. Nice Guy", "Rumble in the Bronx"..... Man I can go on.....

Cheers

[SLASH]

[QUOTE=inkink]

I do ahve a few questions for you, Slash and other Indians on this board:

- What, from the Hindu perspective, is the ultimate reason for terrorism in India?

Well I'm not a Hindu(I'm a Jain) so what ever I say is just my opinion.
Excluding Kashmir most of the terrorism attacks started taking place in the regions which were economically backward.Whereever there is poverty there is terrorism be it N.E India or Central India.But now the face of terrorism is changing.They have started a parallel government and those who disagree with them are killed.You are either with them or agianst them.Recently a shop keeper and his entire family were beheaded by Naxalites(terrorist) just because the shop keeper fired a man who was a supporter of the movement.
These guys are bunch of Barbarian who want to rule the region.The government can't do much cause the people are afraid to speak against them.There have numerous events where informers have been killed.
There is no logical reasoning behind these barbaric activities.

- What goals do these terrorists/bombers want to achieve?

Terrorist in Kashmir want an independant Kashmir.The reason why India doesn't want it be alone is beacause Pakistan has an eye on it. Kashmir without India would become the new hub for Terrorist similar to Afganistan.A place where women won't be allowed to step out of their homes without the permission of their Husbands.A place where kids will be taught about islamic extremism and how people outside islam are their enemies and should suffer instead of learning Math and Science.
Terrorist Organisation across the border namely Jaiesh e Mohamadd and LeT brainwash 16-18 year old to pick up weapons and call for Jihaad against Indians.How would these kids know what is right and what is wrong?

- In your opinion, are these achievable by what they are doing now? Are these goals achieve by any means at all?

Well the answers to both the questions is quite frankly NO.
Terrorist attacks like 7/11 has only brought the country closer.The motive of 7/11 was to create communal unrest amogst the people of different communities which they failed in doing.Right after the attcks hundreds and hundreds of Muslims lined up at the blood banks to donate blood to the victims of the 7/11 blast. Hospitals received more blood than they asked for within a couple of hours.
Terrorist in Kashmir want a "free Kashmir". If this the general voice of the people in J&K it would have led to a civil war.But no, Kasmiris want to be part of India. You can judge your self.Where is Kasmir better of?In an economically and socially failed state of Pakistan or a democratic,free and economically vibrant state of India.Look at what Pakistan did to Bangladesh(for those who don't know,Bangladesh used to be part of Pakistan).As long a large majority of muslims are pro India a couple of these douchebag can't do a shit to India.Just to show you what would India occupied Kasmir will be under Pakistan.Check this out http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...ow/1833219.cms

- If you are the policy maker, are you willing to make some consessions to have peace ?

I don't know what you mean by consession.
If you mean giving up our land in the hands of few idiots than No.The reason are the ones i've mentioned above.Kashmir would become similar to what Afganistan was under the Taliban rule.
If you mean making it easier for the people who picked up arms to surrender than India is already doing it.Not only are the people being given pardon but also given jobs and some money to carry on with their lives(this depends whether they have commited any crimes.None of them are sentenced to death).

- What role do you think India will play in Asia and globally in another 50 years?

I think their has been enough said about India's future so need not say much about it. As kabir pointed out we need to fight the internal problems that the country faces.

- How would you deal with Pakistan? What do you think the India-Pak relationship will be like in 2050?

In think Pakistan will destroy itself well before 2050.They something and do something else.How can have relations with such neighbours?

- What's your view of the current conflict in the middle-east? What would you do if you were Ehud Olmert? What would you do if you were Fouad Siniora? What would you do if you were Condi Rice?

There is an old saying "If you play with fire you will get burnt".The middle-eastern countries are themselves to blame for all this.Contrary to what you said it is Jews not Arabs who have been humilited and torchered throughout history.Whereever Jews went they were hated by everyone.For the first time they given a home where they live peacefully without being hated.They were given a piece of land in the desert(without oil I might add) and were happy with it.It wasn't the jews who asked for that piece of land ,it was the Brits who gave them. It is the middle-eastern countries who want to wipe Isreal off the map not the other way round. Isreal is land locked with enemies all around it. Why do these same people who celebrate everytime Isreal is bombed agitate when someone from their own community is killed?Do you expect Israel to keep getting their civilians killed and never take actions?
Fouad Siniora can't do anything now.He didn't do much when he was asked to.Condi Rice can just hope that this thing would end as quockly as possible.The longer it takes worser it'll get.

- What's your view of the currently very tense China-Japan relationship?

Both countries have some valid arguements over the Taiwan .Very dificult for me to pick a side.Japan is heavily invested in Taiwan and also I believe has good diplomatic relations.On the other hand Taiwan was part of China before Japan invaded it.

- Do you like Chinese food?

Since I'm a strict vegetarian I stick to Chinese Noodles,Rice and Munchurian .

- Have you watched any Chinese movies? Including Hongkong or Taiwan movies?

I get old Chinese movies every night on cable(starring Jet Lee or Jackie Chan). I enjoy Jet Lee and Jackie Chan in English movie more.I never miss to see movies these two guys.I loved Shaolin Soccer,Crouching tiger hidden dragon and a bunch of other movies who's names I cant remember .

[observer]

inkink,
My answers to most of the questions you asked are a lot similar to what's been posted by Indians above so I will answer your one question on which I have a different viewpoint.

You asked --

- What's your view of the currently very tense China-Japan relationship?

In my opinion the Chinese government is rabble-rousing and instigating the Chinese people over a half a century to a century old issue. I know China was colonized by Japan and they did more barbaric things than the British or anyone else. But I think becoming very angry over it, demonstrating, rioting and worse is excessive reaction on the part of the Chinese people after so many decades. I feel the Chinese government is instigating Chinese people with a strategic view to maybe bully Japan or to take away the people's attention from domestic issues like political freedom, social inequalities - any domestic problems that may endanger the reign of the government there.

So I think China and Japan shouldn't have tense relations and get over negative feelings which are more than half a century old. Of course it should press Japan to admit to its atrocities and apologise for them but open hostilities is a disproportionate way to go about it I think. China should instead focus on stability in East Asia and contribute towards making the region even more developed than it is now. After all wartime Europe has gotten over its mutual hostilities and is one of the most developed regions today.

[googleabcd]

I need to correct your opinion:
China was never colonized by Japan. Though Japanese occupied some area of China during World War II, the war between China and Japan never stopped during that period.

War is different than Colony

inkink,
My answers to most of the questions you asked are a lot similar to what's been posted by Indians above so I will answer your one question on which I have a different viewpoint.

You asked --


In my opinion the Chinese government is rabble-rousing and instigating the Chinese people over a half a century to a century old issue. I know China was colonized by Japan and they did more barbaric things than the British or anyone else. But I think becoming very angry over it, demonstrating, rioting and worse is excessive reaction on the part of the Chinese people after so many decades. I feel the Chinese government is instigating Chinese people with a strategic view to maybe bully Japan or to take away the people's attention from domestic issues like political freedom, social inequalities - any domestic problems that may endanger the reign of the government there.

So I think China and Japan shouldn't have tense relations and get over negative feelings which are more than half a century old. Of course it should press Japan to admit to its atrocities and apologise for them but open hostilities is a disproportionate way to go about it I think. China should instead focus on stability in East Asia and contribute towards making the region even more developed than it is now. After all wartime Europe has gotten over its mutual hostilities and is one of the most developed regions today.

[SLASH]

I need to correct your opinion:
China was never colonized by Japan. Though Japanese occupied some area of China during World War II, the war between China and Japan never stopped during that period.

War is different than Colony

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Japan capture 2/3 of China in WW II.
And you right Japan never colonized China.
Its a shame to see how by colonial influence Japan which once treated China like a bigger brother(coz they were influenced immensely by Chinese culture) turned hostile against them.

[chooo123]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Japan capture 2/3 of China in WW II.
And you right Japan never colonized China.
Its a shame to see how by colonial influence Japan which once treated China like a bigger brother(coz they were influenced immensely by Chinese culture) turned hostile against them.

Japanese only took advantage of the weakest period in China's history (When China had a decade of civil war) to invade China, but China has never been fully colonized by any country. Finally China defeated Japan with the help of Allied countries. Actually Japan is a really loser in WWII. See even now Japan is more like USA's colonized country and has little political influenence in the world even it is the second strongest ecomomic country.

[inkink]

Thanks Kabir, Slash and Observer for your perspectives on the questions I asked.

I think the fundamental problem with terrorism is for people to realize: it's more important to build a meaningful and prosperous life, rather than struggling for ideology or a piece of land. If we can all compete in business, technology and science rather than in an arms race, bombing and attacks, things will work out themselves.

For this reason I think the world's more successful nations have the moral responsibility to help the others see and appreciate this point. For example, I think Israel and the US should help Palestinians build schools, take Palestinian students into their universities, and help Palestinians build an economy. When Israel has more Nasdaq listed companies than any other country except the US, while Palestinians can't even manufacture a light bulb, when Israelis work in global companies and export silicon chips, while Palestinians can only make patato chips, the struggle will simply not cease to exist.

Here is a wild idea but I want to know what you guys think: In my mind, India simply does not have the capability to solve the Kashmir/Pakistan issue militarily. Look, if the US has no effective means to stop the Iraqi insurgency and Israel cannot eradicate even Hamaz not to mention Hezbollah, how possible is it that India can stop Islamic terrorism with military means? On the other hand, with India's success in the IT service industry, why doesn't the Indian government invest in Kashmir and get into some joint-ventures in Pakistan? Ultimately people all want to make a good living. When people start believing they can have a better life with dignity and decency by typing keyboards rather than pulling triggers, violence will stop and peace will prevail.

Just my two cents.