|
|
Add to My Group
By John E. Carey A friend said that, like an arsonist that wants to watch the fire burn, I get great joy from visiting my liberal friends with my ideas that run counter to theirs. That’s not really true. I just dislike the naivete or misinformed wrong-headedness of some of them. One of my views that annoys the media and liberals is that the many cultural differences between the west and Asia--China, in particular--should cause us caution, if not concern. One of my contentions is that China has a “culture of corruption” that often causes western business people heartburn. Consider just a few cases: –In June of 2006, the Communist government in China sacked the Vice-Mayor of Beijing. A western businessman accused him of soliciting a bribe. During the investigation, officials discovered the Vice-Mayor, who was overseeing the construction of Olympic venues for the 2008 Games, had built himself a pleasure palace filled with young concubines on the outskirts of the city. Mr. Liu Zhihua’s colorful private life emerged after he was removed from his post after a foreign businessman reported him for extorting a bribe. The Times of London reported: “Mr Liu’s sacking has triggered accusations of widespread corruption surrounding the Games, and highlighted a culture of graft that is said to trouble British and other foreign companies working as specialist contractors on Beijing’s Olympic sites.” The newspaper also wondered why the mayor was not investigated because China has a history of protecting the top officials when making a show trial for more junior people. –That same month, a bogus ambulance picked up an injured pedestrian in Beijing, charging him about $100 US, and then driving him not to the closest hospital but to one much further away. The man bled to death. Concerned Chinese newspapermen discovered a plot that included unlicensed ambulances intercepting emergency calls and charging exorbitant rates to collect patients. –On Sunday, May 4, 2003, The Washington Times published an article I wrote about SARS. To refresh the memory, SARS is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. That May 2003 piece was titled “China’s Ham-Handed SARS Response: Omen of The Future In Disease Control?” In the SARS incident, China first denied that it had an epidemic. It responded with a media cover-up and did not face the medical emergency. As a result, China was just starting to tackle the problem when Singapore and Vietnam were mopping up. We also learned during the SARS emergency that China lacked sufficient medications, medical staff and hospital facilities to properly service their own population. Like many other things in China, the medical system was mostly a sham. The best educated medical professionals, it was uncovered, went to the west to work once their education was completed. The World Health Organization estimated that only about 4% of China’s medical professionals were prepared for a disease like SARS. And the medical staff was severely undermanned. Today, according to China’s Ministry of Health (MOH), “In most countries, the ratio of the number of nurses to the total population is about 0.5 percent, but the ratio in China is only 0.1 percent.” –On May 10, 2007, the maker of Budweiser beer went to court in Arkansas to claim that an Arkansas-registered company is illegally marketing beer in China, using the American brewer’s trademarks. Anheuser-Busch sued USA Bai Wei Group in Pulaski County, Arkansas, Circuit Court, seeking an injunction to revoke Bai Wei’s corporate charter and require a name change. Bai Wei (pronounced By Way) is how the Chinese language trademark for Budweiser is pronounced in English, according to the St. Louis-based brewer’s complaint, filed Friday. This incident is part of a decades-long disregard for intellectual property rights in China, where western copyrights and trademarks are ignored. I saw my first illegially republished or “pirated” book in China in 1976. The bottom line is this: until the culture of Chinese business improves, westerners will always be frustrated and wary of getting taken...more so in China than in almost any other nation in the world. Visit us at: http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/ John E. Carey is the former president of International Defense Consultants, Inc.
A writer is a rogue goose. All other gees fly in a flock formation; every goose knows his place and time for honking. The rogue goose is undisciplined. He leaves the formation indiscriminately to have a look at it from aside. He roams back and forth, takes a peep at the leader, honks a little bit from behind, distracts everyone and writes on what he sees. Time passes and as he wants to return back to his place he discovers someone else there. Thus he either has to wait until they land for rest...
La- la -land once again Liberals are so naive. They, for instance think that the only way to estimate someone else's level of corruprtion is.. comparing it with your own. So.. at least since Y2001 when our Pretzel stopped reading his book on little goat our country reeks with corruption cases, some pretty deadly like the whole Katrina story. Some pretty stinky like Abramoff case. As for palaces... read Greg Palast. But even without Greg, I guess Cheney killing 400 birds and nearly killing his friend was not cheap, I suppose. Intellectual property is a big issue, of course, I sympathise with Mr. Carey's experience with China but.. literally thousands of the patents and inventions from Russia and former Soviet Union are used in the US without any dues to the inventors or their relatives/heirs. Moreover, equipment and people are bought for peanuts, transported to the US and used without any proper compensation. Hey, our healthcare is a culture of corruption if we ever had one. Here we come to Iraq- the money- laundering machine for Cheney and Co. Mr. Carey, liberals or whoever are not that naive as you think. We know who you are. by
Mark Sashine (46 articles, 19 quicklinks, 235 diaries, 3359 comments)
on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 10:10:27 AM
Just a quick story..... Like everyone, with a few drinks you get to the truth. Or to SOMETHING! I was assigned to Taiwan's navy (the last exchange officer before Jimmy Carter changed the relationship). At sea they served me dog: a great honor. Like a steak dinner in the US Navy. Ashore they took me to a "fish house." We all got liquored up. The captain chose his lobster by REACHING INTO THE TANK to grab the Mo Fo! I don't know who was more surprised: me or the lobster (or the restaurant staff!). by
John E. Carey (207 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 106 comments)
on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 3:17:13 PM
China Jerry your possible wife certainly did want to know honesty and integrity. But the language difference and the ideas of getting there are not always the same. It takes a long time and committment to make marriage work, even when you have the same language and from the same country. My wife is chinese does not know english and we have been together now 6 years. It takes time and understandling. Why do they eat dog? Probably because of the past in starving to death. How else do you save face by making eating dog a delicious entree? Americans eat worse! I would rather eat dog than bull balls. As far as your chinese girl going to jail. I think you let her down. How is she going to live when you wouldn't marry her? She tried to do something, and maybe didn't know the laws, along with the language barriers, can lead people into trouble. I think you should be more open toward not riduculing but understanding while helping is the best course. by
Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 934 comments)
on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 7:36:16 PM
The world will never be a safe place until China is free of the communist regime.The Chinese people want democracy freedom culture and peace. So does the West.Only by peacefully turning our back on the communist regime can the Chinese people realize a True Chinese renaissance is within their sights.A new era is before us lets together choose goodness over evil peace over violence love over hate. The Chinese Need Freedom Before the 2008 Olympic Games.
John Carey speaks the truth. Not many everyday people know th real truth about whats happening in China today. It seems all shiny and glossy on the surface but nothing could be further from the truth. The communist regime is imploding , There is no future with the communist regime but there will be a great future without it. 22 million + party communist members have already figured that out. Corruption is rewarded in China except when they want to get rid of you. by
Jana (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments)
on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 3:50:13 AM
|
|
