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Great
Britain today finds itself more isolated
internationally than at any time since the
invasion of Iraq. The truth is that Great
Britain no longer has what can be called an
independent foreign policy. Prime Minister Tony
Blair long ago threw his lot in with the Bush
administration. The ascendance of the world's
next superpowers, India and China, the two
"Asian giants" shaking off their ancient slumber
and rising to the call of the 21st Century.
According to popular punditry, their place in
the firmament of globalizations success stories
is already guaranteed.
After a long period of relative stagnation these
two countries, nearly two-fifths of the world
population, has seen their incomes grow at a
remarkable high rates over the last two decades.
Commentators have referred to their economic
reforms and integration into the world economy.
Asia's power balance is in flux as both India
and China's influence rises. Not many years ago,
India was often thought as a poor country of
marginal significance in International Affairs.
In the last decade, economic growth has averaged
an impressive 8 percent, and the country is
ready once again to assert its global ambitions.
India is growing quickly and is increasingly
eager to flex its muscles on world stage. The
hordes of Indian software engineers, call center
operators, and back-room programmers supposedly
hollowing out white-collar jobs in rich
countries. If the Goldman Sachs study is
accurate, three of of the four largest economies
in the year 2050 will be Asians: China, U.S.A,
India and Japan.
It is high time that the British government pay
more attention to India and China and radically
overhaul the foreign policy by backing away from
the "Special Relationship" with Washington.
Gordon Brown signaled that as Prime Minister he
would forge a Foreign Policy independent of the
United States and initiate "frank" relations
with President George Bush. David Cameron and
the Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague,
have recently stated their positions, that a
Conservative government would be Pro-American
but would not be as "slavish" as Prime Minister
Tony Blair.
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Comments: |
Comparisons are often made between
India and China. As an Indian who
works and travels extensively to
China there are some significant
differences:
1. China's infrastructure far out
ranks India and is truly comparable
to any advanced country in the
world. China has developed
sufficient electric power,
petroleum, and coal and gas energy
resources to power a massive
industrial manufacturing base. Thus
China's prosperity comes from high
value industrial turnover which
provides employment to every section
of the society, unlike India where
the employment and upward mobility
is restricted to a 300 million
English educated elite doing
basically clerical or support
functions at business provider
outsourcing centers. Thus India's
growth while impressive on the
balance sheets and annual reports
has little social relevance towards
the advancement of Indian society in
general. A convent or public school
educated English speaking support
person working in a Gurgaon call
center is no way representative of
the general Indian society which is
more aptly reflected, by wretchedly
poor landless labor in central
Bihar, UP, or MP where a savagely
feudal order persists fueling an
extremist left-wing terrorist
response. A visit to even the
remotest mountain villages in China
reveal the extent of development of
the rural infrastructure where the
standards of roads, communications,
water, medical care, schools and low
cost modern heated housing at
comparable standards of developed
nations has been developed.
2. China's, roads,
telecommunications, housing,
airports and defense infrastructure
has no comparable counterpart in
India. Above all is the general
awareness of hygiene and civil
courtesy. A visit to the toilets at
any Indian airport is a stark
reminder of the lack of hygiene and
civil courtesy in India where the
toilet bowls are spattered with
betel juice. There are no piles of
garbage in the streets with cows and
pigs roaming free. Even the old 'hutongs'
( equivalent to the Indian urban old
city mohalla) are clean and tidy.
There are no Dharavis in China and
nor are there any Sonagachi's and
Falkland Roads which are festering
centers of AIDS, Syphilis, and
Venereal disease. China has healthy,
well-fed population reflected aptly
in its sporting prowess and its
child survivability and general
health.
3. China's social advancement is two
centuries ahead of India, where
children's education is free,
compulsory, and more important
implemented and enforced. You do not
see child labor in China. A visit to
restaurant does not bring a child of
8 or 10 years of age to your table
with glasses of tea. There are no
domestic child servants who need to
eat rather than go to school and if
you buy a bowl of yogurt and toss it
half eaten into the garbage bin you
do not see a child run up and pick
it up and start licking it. The
advancement of education amongst
women has no comparisons in India.
Women are educated, confident, and
economically independent enjoying an
equal status with there male
counterparts. Even in the remotest
inner cities such as Baoji there are
women taxi drivers, women welders,
crane operators, and of course
professionals in every other field
besides. China has done far more for
its women than India which has a
dismal record of rapes,
discrimination, dowry deaths, sati,
purdah enforcement. Of course China
has no Aishwarya Rais winning the
Miss World contest speaking
beautiful English but neither does
it have orgies of mass rape and
carnage such as Pipra, Paras-Bigha.
Chinese women work checkpoints at
tollgates on the highways receiving
the toll from the truck-drivers and
commercial vehicles. It is hard to
imagine an Indian women working
alone and at night on a check-post
in Bihar or Haryana dealing with
drunken and criminal truck drivers.
4. Any super-power ensures law and
order and security of its citizens
regardless of race, religion, and
creed. Unless any nation is secure
internally with the rule of the law
implemented it can never be a
super-power. China has ensured that
the blood letting and rioting and
civil strife are now in the history
books. China ensures the welfare and
security of its people guaranteeing
the right to live and prosper. China
is not racked with communal, caste,
ethnic, terrorist and left wing
violence. Individuals or groups who
promote violence in the name of
religion, ethnicity, or ideology are
swiftly controlled, prosecuted and
neutralized by the due process of
the law. No one is ABOVE the law.
China has gone the extra mile in
ensuring the welfare of its
minorities. The Hue Muslims, and
Uygurs have been given special
treatment with an all out effort to
ensure that they avail of the
opportunities offered by a resurgent
China without compromising their
unique culture and identity. Which
is why China's minorities are
minorities only with regard to their
culture or religion but are equal in
every other field including
education, and economic progress.
Above all the minorities have their
due sense of patriotism as is aptly
reflected in their proportional
representation in the armed forces.
5. Any super-power also ensures that
its territorial integrity is
maintained. China's highly advanced
defense capabilities have done just
that. From a time when China neither
controlled its air-space or its
coastline, it has come a long way to
being a space power which launches
its own astronauts into space.
China's defense infrastructure is
99% reliant on its own technology
and its capabilities far exceed
anything comparable that India can
put up. China's borders are
in-violable. No one can infiltrate
or leave China illegally.
I am not saying all is well in China
and there are no downsides. Chinese
society is rapidly changing and
often economic progress has meant
cruel compromises. The old joint
family system in China may soon be
gone. The old picturesque villages,
hutongs, and scenic rural
establishments will soon be gone
forever, even though the Chinese are
struggling to preserve their
heritage as tourist attractions.
There are curbs on individual
freedoms. However all said and done
I would rather see India learn from
China and reform rather than persist
with its smug sense of lopsided
achievement. - Reza Sami, SC, USA
- Feb. 3, 2007 |
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