Former U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke indirectly admitted on a CNBC program that the United States of today is not the United States of yesterday. He and Beijing have only been separated for 10 years, and China and the United States feel like they have been separated from each other for a lifetime.
The third anniversary of the riots at the U.S. Capitol. AP pictures
Locke was originally from Taishan and was born in Seattle. When he took up his new job in Beijing in 2011, he brought a “whirlwind of Locke” praised by Western media. Reports at the time said: “When he went to Beijing in August, he carried a backpack and took his daughter to a Starbucks at the Seattle Airport. After the photo of buying coffee was uploaded to Sina Weibo, it immediately went viral.” Mainland netizens also broke the news that “Ambassador Locke and his family visited Yangshuo, Guilin, Guangxi without a chartered car or bodyguards.”
One month after taking office, Locke chose to take economy class to attend the Dalian Davos Forum. At the forum, a reporter asked him: “Is taking economy class for the meeting a deliberate reminder that the United States owes China money?” Locke said: “As a (U.S.) government official, whether it is an official from its consulate or the embassy in Beijing, including The general rule for members of the president’s cabinet is to fly in economy class.” Last year, when China received high-level officials and congressional leaders from the United States, everything was kept simple. There was no red carpet, for fear that it would be too extravagant and inconsistent with the national conditions of the United States? !
At the same time, this year the U.S. national debt crossed the $34 trillion mark for the first time. In 2011, the U.S. debt reached $14.29 trillion, triggering a debt crisis. In 2011, China’s holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds hit a record of $13,000. In 2023, China’s holdings of U.S. debt dropped to less than $800 billion, the lowest level in 14 years. Perhaps China has seen through that no matter how frugal the US ambassador is, he cannot reverse the fate of the United States.
In 2013, Locke resigned from President Obama, and foreign media quoted mainland netizens as fabricating the following conversation.
Obama asked: If you are doing a good job, why not do it? ——Locke’s frugal style has impacted mainland culture. According to a media survey at the time, more than 40% of the respondents did not think that the US ambassador was “showing off”, but instead asked Chinese officials to learn from the “American spirit of equality” and fly more economy class cabins. ——Locke Answer: To be honest, I really can’t stay any longer. You can’t adapt to the climate, and the air is too bad. Look (here Locke sent Obama a picture of what looks like a new CCTV building deep in smog). You can’t see your fingers, even a person who looks as dark as you, five years away. Mi can no longer be seen.
There is more to the fabricated dialogue than meets the eye. Obama: “This is a small matter. I’ll have an air screening program delivered to you soon, plus a gas mask.”
Locke: “Uh, thank you… Also, the psychological barrier here is quite big. Officials always treat me to drink Moutai, stay in five-star hotels, and use wealthy people’s money. I can only treat them to McDonald’s… Nokia is not too embarrassed either. Take out your hand…”
When the New York Times published the above report on November 23, 2013, the sentence at the end of the article was very warning: “Farewell, Locke! Take some of Beijing’s smog away to keep as a memory.” This is the glory of an American era. The United States has the right to speak and its soft power is invincible. However, it no longer has this advantage. Today’s China is dominated by new energy vehicles, the air is clean, and the Chinese government’s governance efficiency is high, which can be seen in its successful fight against the epidemic. It is now common for the mainland middle class to buy cars and stay in five-star hotels. Internal consumption is strong. In addition, delivery riders rarely use Bicycle. However, it is a pity that the United States today lives under the haze of social unrest.
Instead of talking about human rights and freedoms today, Locke defended an unfree economy and unfair competition. He also said that the United States has indeed forced China not to obtain advanced chips from semiconductor companies such as Nvidia and Qualcomm. The reason is to “prevent China from using the chips for military purposes or advanced computing.” , thereby competing with the United States and posing a threat to U.S. national security.” It is reported that ASML of the Netherlands has recently canceled some orders for photolithography machines from China due to pressure from the US government.
Farewell, Gary Locke, I hope the hostility on the Boulevard in the U.S. will dissipate soon, and everyone can walk freely, taste Chinese Moutai latte coffee at leisure, and wish the world peace!
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“China will eventually be reunified” was proposed during Xi’s visit to San Francisco last year and has been repeated many times in recent months. It is a powerful reminder to opponents that the coercion strategy that the United States relied on in the past to stabilize the status quo in the Taiwan Strait has failed. Unless the United States seriously considers stepping into the ring to challenge, it can be said that there is no option left.
AP pictures
At the beginning of 2024, American think tanks were the first to sound the gong. Grieco, a researcher at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank, suggested that the Biden administration should first focus on arming Taiwan to turn it into a “porcupine” that is difficult for the People’s Liberation Army to touch. “Taiwan’s defense spending is still negligible and is in the wrong direction, such as continuing to pursue the expensive and sophisticated F-16 fighter jet, which is unlikely to play a big role in a conflict across the Taiwan Strait.” In other words, the Taiwan military is the obvious choice for the People’s Liberation Army.
American think tanks don’t seem to understand that the Taiwanese support the DPP’s “Taiwan independence” or the Kuomintang’s “pro-American and mainland” policies. The underlying logic is to remain “unchanged” forever. The ideal solution is to spend money every year to buy U.S. arms sales, and the United States is responsible. Breaking down the numbers, if the two sides of the Taiwan Strait remain unchanged, Taiwanese businessmen will continue to invest in the mainland and enjoy more preferential treatment. A few pro-mainland politicians from the private sector will “return home” for the holidays to make peace, and that’s it. This is the formula for “Taiwan’s prosperity and stability” that has been hidden for many years.
Hsieh Da-wen, who studies Taiwan’s elections, told Voice of America: “What the vast majority of Taiwan’s voters, more than 90% of them, are thinking about is not that I want reunification, so who should I vote for? It’s impossible. What he is thinking about. It will be closer to: Will my vote today increase my risk of being reunified or annexed (annexation)?” Taiwan doesn’t even want reunification. If you think about it from another angle, do you think it should be changed to want Taiwan? Young people want to go to the front line to defend the United States’ strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific. Are Taiwanese willing to do it? Don’t be so naive that you even believe what Lai Ching-te and Tsai Ing-wen say about the values of “democracy” and “freedom” and that Taiwan is too important to fail as the world’s chip center. You should also believe that all Taiwanese people believe it until Taiwanese people are willing to see it. It would not hesitate to turn into a scene of war between Russia and Ukraine and conflict between Palestine and Israel. In fact, buying a few F-16 fighter jets is a certificate of “accepting protection”, so don’t think too much about it. To this day, the United States not only wants “money” (arms sales) from Taiwan, but also “lives” (become a porcupine).
The United States has its own difficulties, but it is not afraid to be honest with everyone. From 2022 to 2023, large-scale gray swan-style military conflicts broke out one after another. In addition, the Red Sea is in danger. The prestige of the United States has been frustrated one after another, and its military credibility has declined. Today Who dares to believe you today? What’s more, the US opponent is China, the strongest.
The think tank said: “Manila has clarified that it will not allow the United States to use these sites for offensive operations in the event of conflict with China over Taiwan. The United States has strengthened and deepened relations with allies and partners in the region, but countries still have concerns about the use of U.S.-China relations. Be cautious about taking sides in the competition. Take Vietnam as an example: Hanoi upgraded its relations with the United States, but a few months later agreed to join China’s ‘community of destiny’.”
Southeast Asia has become the weakest link in the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy because the United States cannot find an agent to stand up to China. What about North Asia? Japan and South Korea first alarmed North Korea when they joined forces, and Russia was behind it. If you open this Pandora’s box, the United States will not be safe. It is no wonder that the two closest English-speaking relatives of the United States in Asia and the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, have publicly changed their attitudes. They do not deny that they are related to The United States is related, but emphasizes that they are just “far-flung relatives.”
The most positive guarantee for “protecting Taiwan” is that the United States comes to fight for “Taiwan independence.” Pay close attention to when the U.S. aircraft carrier group in the Middle East will turn to the Asia-Pacific, and see when the U.S. abandons Zelensky and asks Putin for peace. The U.S. must concentrate all its power to challenge China. Otherwise, the U.S. will only continue to “talk harshly, but in fact rely on “Go away” Cold War soft power confrontation, but this is also a war, especially a financial war. Before the cards are played, who is standing in the front row? Hong Kong is the same, you know!
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2024-01-05 12:13:03
