Thursday, October 01, 2009

2009年中華人民共和國國慶 / PRC's National Day 2009

I watched China's celebration of its 60th National Day on the CBC National News this evening right after the report on the possible extradition of Polanski back to the US, which leads me to believe there is no immediate plan for our PM to visit China. The most striking scene, of course, was the parade of China's military might. The internal message of the Chinese government to its people seems to be quite clear: "We are strong and powerful!!" But what is the intended external message to the rest of the world watching? In my opinion, the flexing of military muscle will no doubt give ammunition to those who want to portray China as a threat. Since the Beijing Olmpic, I have read enough on the net abt "communist China's plan to take over the world".

As expected, this military show by China appears to have reinforced this fear in the minds of some Americans. Throughout the evening, the US media spent quite a bit of time reporting and analyzing China's miliatary capacity (not that the Pentagon doesn't have the info already). CNN even had an "expert" going over the paraded arsenal hardware one-by-one and concluded seriously that China's anti-ship missiles pose a serious threat to US carriers patrolling the Pacific Ocean.

Given that China's economy still depends very much on its export to the US and other foreign markets, I am not so sure if flexing its military muscle is the best way to beat other BRIC competitors in the global trade. But again, the population in China seems to like the show and perhaps that is what counts most for a country celebrating its national day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Updated 20091003 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

貼堂佳作

(感謝網友Space兄千里來鴻)

故國慶壽熱烘烘
花甲六十賀昌隆
遊子隔岸懷故國
甲子未圓民主夢

4 comments:

新鮮人 said...

個人意見是不同人看到不同的東西,
就單以那個國慶表演來看,
我看到雄赳赳有紀律的軍人,
還有色彩繽紛的花車遊行,
還有成千上萬的兒童和和平鴿,
同一件事不同人有不同的感覺,
我們不能因為部份西方人的"想法"而覺得國慶閱兵有何問題!

Haricot 微豆 said...

新鮮人:

愚見認為,中國領導人國慶閱兵時選擇穿「毛主席」裝,展示武裝實力給中國內地和世界列強覌看,是內丶外交政策的公開推行,不是潛在中國內的問題。

如我結論說: "... the population in China seems to like the show and perhaps that is what counts most for a country celebrating its national day ..."

pkchanboston said...

中南海有意在60週年國慶,向全世界,特別是美俄展示軍力,雖然,有些觀察家認為,中共還是留有一手,未有在受閱行列之中,擺出最厲害的先進武器,但是,已令本地一些美國人感到不安,認為是挑戰當前世界秩序的姿態,對台海的穩定,又一再泛起不可預測的波瀾。最新一期的美國新聞週刊,叫美國人不用驚怕,說閱兵是做給中國人看的,主要是懾服西藏及新疆的動亂份子。不管怎樣,大閱兵擺脫不了窮兵黷武的形象,要說服中國人是一個愛好和平及善良的民族,淚盈總理溫家寶還是有必要,在東亞及東南亞多走幾圈,疏導一番。

Haricot 微豆 said...

Pkchanboston:

Thank you for your visit and the comments, which I read in the context of your original blog article.

I am sure China had done its homework on the expected impacts of this show-of-force on its citizens and the outside world. One could safely assume that the last thing the current US administration wants is to add China to its "worry list".

BTW: I read some of the articles in your two blogs. You are quite a scholar :)

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