WSJ 書評:
Let a Billion Flowers Bloom
In Sudan, a Chinese farmer grows 1,400 tons of vegetables every year. A marketplace in Dubai only sells 'Made in China' goods.
April 22, 2013 3:36 p.m. ET
In 2009, journalists
Juan Cardenal
and
Heriberto Araújo,
who had become fascinated by China's "rapidly growing influence"
around the world, had an inspired idea. They would set off on a
world-wide journey to study this phenomenon up close. The search took
the pair from Turkmenistan to Iran and Angola to Argentina via planes,
trains and long-haul buses.
They visited
a large farm in Sudan where a Chinese businessman oversees the growing
of 1,400 tons of vegetables every year. They discovered a massive Dubai
marketplace where only "Made in China" goods are sold. In Burma, they
talked with an environmentalist appalled that deals between corrupt
Burmese officials and Chinese mining companies were laying waste to
nearby mountainsides. In Cairo, they spent time with a couple who left
Liaoning Province, near the border with North Korea, to become part of a group that Egyptians call the shanta sini,
or "Chinese bag-people"—poor migrant workers who have taken over the
Egyptian textile market with nothing other than business acumen and
personal determination.
China's Silent Army
By Juan Cardenal and Herberto Araújo(Crown, 350 pages, $26)
The result, after two years of
nonstop and sometimes hazardous travel, is "China's Silent Army," a
fascinating book about a topic of great importance but one marred by the
authors' belief that China's leaders aim for nothing less than "world
conquest." If the West doesn't wake up, the authors claim, we will end
up controlled by Chinese overlords. That's a breathless way to put it,
but this is a breathless book. It has sections titled "Chinese
Neo-Slavery in the Heart of Africa" and "Bleeding India With 10,000
Cuts." The authors present China as a confident colossus that extends
its oil-seeking "tentacles" into distant lands, leaves behind "giant's
footprints" and deploys its vast reserves as a "lethal financial
weapon."
"China's Silent Army" also
devotes its concluding pages to attacking a straw man. The authors
insist that they belong to a small group of clearsighted people who
appreciate that the world is rapidly being remade in Beijing's image and
that the main alternative view, put forth by "all kinds of experts," is
that "China is destined to gradually become a Western-style democracy."
Yet that is hardly the consensus that I see among astute analysts of
the region: Even if the Chinese political system changes quite
dramatically in the coming years, few expect it to morph into anything
much like the American or any European one.
The Devouring Dragon
By Craig Simon(St. Martin's, 289 pages, $27.99)
The value of the authors' reporting
is diminished not just by its alarmist and sensationalist language but
also by sweeping generalizations about the Chinese people. Aside from
brave dissidents and activists, the country's diverse populace comes
across as just a very large cluster of interchangeable Borg-like beings.
"China's expansion would not be what it is today," Messrs. Cardenal and
Araújo write, "without the support of millions of anonymous people"—the
foot soldiers in the book's eponymous "silent army." What allegedly
unites nearly all Chinese is an unstinting devotion to the motherland,
an intent desire to improve their own material condition and, most
bizarrely, a tendency while abroad to "safeguard their Chinese DNA like a
precious treasure."
Could Messrs.
Cardenal and Araújo, clearly diligent journalists, have crafted a book
that expressed deep concern about China and yet avoided reducing Chinese
actors to faceless automatons? Yes. In fact, just such a book has been
published about the same time as theirs, by environmental journalist
Craig Simons. "The Devouring Dragon: How China's Rise Threatens Our
Natural World" covers broadly similar terrain to "China's Silent Army"
and is also based on far-flung travels, including a trip to New Guinea
rain forests being denuded, in part, to feed the desire of Chinese
nouveau-riche consumers for high-end furniture.
I
have quibbles with "The Devouring Dragon," mostly stylistic ones. I
don't like the title; many other tired titles invoke the same totemic
animal. The book also can be repetitive, with facts, scientists and
settings being introduced that were already fixed in my mind thanks to
earlier mentions. Still, Mr. Simons handles one big issue just right.
While critical at times of Chinese state policies and strategies for
development, "The Devouring Dragon" continually returns to the larger
point: What could make China's rise most dangerous to the rest of the
planet, Mr. Simons suggests, is the global spread of wasteful lifestyles
that first took root in the West. Mr. Simons reminds us that, while we
may lament China's increasing use of fossil fuels, we should be aware of
how much the country's embrace of the automobile is rooted in a desire
to emulate American lifestyles. We may shake our heads at New Guinea
villagers selling land to Chinese loggers, but they do so partly because
they want things we take for granted.
Mr. Wasserstrom is the author of "China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know."
焦點評論:中國悄悄佔領全世界(吳惠林)
兩
岸服貿協議的主要爭議點在於台灣是否將全面被中國佔領?最近在台灣出版的一本新書提供了答案。該書中文書名叫《中國悄悄占領全世界》(China’s
Silence Army),是兩位西班牙資深記者投入2年時間,足跡遍及25國,進行500多次訪談,發掘共產中國悄悄佔領全世界的惡形惡狀之記述。
作者發現,從土庫曼的天然氣田、杜拜的商場到剛果的礦場,處處都有中國人在掠奪顧客手上和地球表面的資源,來自中國的產品和人力,正在改變全球商業經營模式,中國商人不但佔據了塞內加爾首都達卡最繁華熱鬧的主要街道,而且洗劫了緬甸的森林和玉礦。
一位秘魯礦工說:「我們覺得自己好像生活在中國人的殖民地。」他工作的礦場和居住的小城,已被一家中國國有企業買下。中國企業也把中國勞工帶進非洲、虐待海外工人、破壞各地環境,甚至與各國貪婪的政治權貴狼狽為奸,巧取豪奪。
一位秘魯礦工說:「我們覺得自己好像生活在中國人的殖民地。」他工作的礦場和居住的小城,已被一家中國國有企業買下。中國企業也把中國勞工帶進非洲、虐待海外工人、破壞各地環境,甚至與各國貪婪的政治權貴狼狽為奸,巧取豪奪。
西班牙憤燒中國鞋
我
們知道,中國在經濟成長上早就是剝削勞工、壓低工資,超廉價血汗商品造成全球「通貨緊縮」,也早已引起外國不滿,曾出現抵制、報復甚至發生暴動。2004
年9月西班牙埃爾切「火燒中國鞋」就是一個顯例。當時,埃爾切中國鞋商店已發展到數十家,逼使西班牙鞋廠紛紛倒閉,使該市製鞋工人的失業率高達30%。就
在生計遭到阻斷,並在有心人的引導下,示威乃演變成觸目驚心的暴動。
不只西班牙,連美國這樣的世界第一經濟強權,也都感受到中國「低價」產品的威 脅。關於美國如何遭受中國經濟崛起的威脅,2011年出版的《致命中國》(Death by China)這本書描寫得很清楚,該書指出,中共利用所有可能的武器—保護主義、匯率操縱、網路攻擊到間諜活動—對每一條戰線發動攻擊。
此外,中共也在全球用盡各種手段攫取關鍵資源,即使代價是支持世界上最危險的政權進行核擴散,也在所不惜。
在美國本土,中國出口的危險商品造成美國人受傷或死亡,其中包括有毒食品、被污染的藥品、有毒玩具等。與此同時,美國大企業與中國的國營企業結盟,毀滅了美國的製造業。
如今,黨國資本主義的共產中國已將黑手伸向全世界,台灣能倖免嗎?
不只西班牙,連美國這樣的世界第一經濟強權,也都感受到中國「低價」產品的威 脅。關於美國如何遭受中國經濟崛起的威脅,2011年出版的《致命中國》(Death by China)這本書描寫得很清楚,該書指出,中共利用所有可能的武器—保護主義、匯率操縱、網路攻擊到間諜活動—對每一條戰線發動攻擊。
此外,中共也在全球用盡各種手段攫取關鍵資源,即使代價是支持世界上最危險的政權進行核擴散,也在所不惜。
在美國本土,中國出口的危險商品造成美國人受傷或死亡,其中包括有毒食品、被污染的藥品、有毒玩具等。與此同時,美國大企業與中國的國營企業結盟,毀滅了美國的製造業。
如今,黨國資本主義的共產中國已將黑手伸向全世界,台灣能倖免嗎?
應共同打倒侵略國
如
《中國悄悄占領全世界》這本書所提,中國經改帶頭者鄧小平曾在1974年4月10日出席聯合國大會發言說:「中國現在不是,將來也不做超級大國。如果中國
有朝一日變了顏色,變成一個超級大國,也在世界上稱霸,到處欺負人家,侵略人家,剝削人家,世界人民就應當揭露它,反對它,並且同中國人民一起打倒它。」
由這本書的描述應可得知,鄧小平的繼承人已違背了他的承諾。本書作者已呼應鄧小平寫書來揭露它,世人不也該響應鄧小平,共同起來反對它,並且夥同中國人民一起打倒它嗎?
中華經濟研究院研究員
由這本書的描述應可得知,鄧小平的繼承人已違背了他的承諾。本書作者已呼應鄧小平寫書來揭露它,世人不也該響應鄧小平,共同起來反對它,並且夥同中國人民一起打倒它嗎?
沒有留言:
張貼留言