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Although I might find what happens in other Countries objectionable, it has often occurred to me that the constant bitching about what happens in China, Burma, Iran and many others is little short of hypocritical In the sense that coming from the Western countries, it assumes that there is only “one way” that things should be done, “Our Way” which is total nonsense.

Today the 53 year old Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen was executed by the Chinese for trying to smuggle 4 Kilos of Heroin into China 2 years ago which is fair enough 50g is enough in most Far Eastern Countries to face the Death Penalty. Drugs are a problem there and the penalties are commiserate, just because you are a Westerner does not excuse you for breaking their Laws, you get the same sentence as a Chinese person would, it is their Country. When in Rome…

The Mote in Our Eye

There is an element of “Imperial Edicts and Missionary Preaching” about it all which is really not going to go down too well with anyone… I can remember visiting Kuala Lumpur back in the 1980s and as you waited in the baggage hall to pick up your bags before going through Customs, there were huge illuminated signs in English and various other languages. They were very explicit, smuggling drugs in Malaysia was punishable by the Death Penalty, there can be no excuse if you are stupid enough to ignore this message.

“We” in the West didn’t like what was going on in Iraq and Afghanistan so we invaded Iraq and then gradually got sucked into Afghanistan and some mad idea of “Nation Building”. which in the end is not going to happen. I would have thought that the experiences of both Iraq and Afghanistan should have driven straight between the eyes a realisation that “Democracy” is not an export product and largely because it requires quite a history and infrastructure before it takes firm roots. Democracy in the West was “home grown” not imported.

Democratic Government in the sense of regular elections where the people have the power through the Ballot Box to change the people in power, takes time to evolve and it has to be “worked through locally” often through Civil Wars and violence because those who hold power at any moment in time will not willingly give it up. We have a good example of that today in the UK with Brown and the Labour Party who and whatever your political leanings, have clearly failed the country completely and have to go. Brown will cling on to the very last minute but instead of us having to storm Parliament, we will have an election battle which is verbal not physical, this process has taken considerable time and blood to evolve.

I am No China Expert

However, I find it hard to decide whether the authors of articles or the news editors on TV when it comes to China and stories such as this execution or even Tiananmen Square are either just naive or totally ignorant.

Very many years ago at an Exhibition I had a conversation with a Chinese Trade Attaché and at the time China had suffered a number of serious crop failures. I asked whether automation might solve that, with a smile and a slight dig at the Russians, he said “Ah yes the Great Tractor Plan but then, what do we do with the people ?”

If people can’t understand or don’t want to, Chinese History and Culture as a way of looking at modern China then do it the easy way, look at the numbers:

China has about 1bn more people than the USA. For every British Citizen, China has roughly 23. It is the duty of any Government to provide the means to clothe, feed, educate etc its people and on this scale for us it is unimaginable. But of course the real story can be told through looking at the GDP figures:

China is estimated to be at around 3 in the global ratings of GDP but in terms of Per Capita GDP at $6,000 it is only 133 in world ratings.

The UK is estimated to be 8th in world ranking but with a Per Capita of $36,700 is at 32nd.

Those differences tell a whole different story and in a country of 60 million where over the past almost 13 years an incompetent Government has managed to totally trash our economy whilst reducing productivity plus claiming by cheap accounting tricks that fewer people are “economically inactive” than the roughly 8 million that is the true figure, we are hardly in a position to preach to the Chinese about the Government hiding the facts.

Don’t Preach !

One might also point out that whilst China has been going through its “Industrial Revolution” which in terms of the workers is little different to what happened in Britain but on a far larger scale. In this Country, we were so lazy in defending the hard fought rights of our ancestors through Magna Carta and onwards that Gordon Brown seriously sought a 42 Day detention without trial ! Indeed in the words of the Master, “Let he without sin throw the first stone.”

If people don’t like China’s policies and wish to protest, then they should boycott their goods but they will find it hard, most Western Companies have outsourced their manufacturing and assembly operations to there in pursuit of the cheap labour because Western consumers want the lowest price.

The economic cycle may change sooner rather than later as the impact of the economic crisis on the West and the associated currency devaluations which relate to a cut in ‘real wages’ make manufacturing locally more economic. Allied to the “Global Warming Story”, this might make a lot of sense in a “Less is More” economic model where higher unit costs equal higher employment. However if you visit any foreign country, one should respect the local customs and Laws so “When in China…”