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I wouldn't go so far as to say that the US was China's white knight, but it did act strongly on China's behalf (especially compared to what it did regarding Europe) when it had not obligation to do so, and got dragged into a world war as a result. I don't expect groveling gratitude on the part...

You are incorrect in applying contemporary mores in judging the Depression-era US. Comparatively speaking, the US went above and beyond for China, a country to which it owed nothing and shared no cultural, linguistic, or historical bonds. The United States didn't even embargo Nazi Germany in...

Wow, the next leadership has already been decided? Is there anything else you can tell us about these individuals, such as what faction of the CCP they belong to, what their governance style is, what their vision for China is likely to be, etc.?

Hey @somsak , it's been a while. I wonder why we haven't crossed paths on PDF recently. I've missed your intellectually-stimulating topics, which are rare enough on PDF these days. As far as the US-China relationship, I agree that we have great opportunities for friendship. I've said several...

Genuine question: in the Chinese version of WWII history, what is Phase III? Phase I: US trades with Japan Phase II: Japan invades China Phase III: ?????? Phase IV: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor In the version of events that actually happened, the US placed an embargo on Japan as a punishment for...

These are the two most important points. That is to say, China is a complex nation, and cannot easily be understood by Western linear thinking. Nineteen Eighty-Four provides a better framework through which to understand how China uses history: "Who controls the past controls the future; who...

Does it get better after the first two episodes? I have tried to approach this with an open mind, but episode one gave me a headache with its circularity (to understand China one must understand the CCP, and this momentous book publishing explaining the CCP will enable one to understand the CCP...

I'm talking about the mandate for a specific person (or party). The system itself, as you pointed out, is at some point imposed by war for every country. But thereafter, how is legitimacy maintained? In a democracy, every generation (and in the US, essentially every two years) the people are...

Victory decided the winner of the war, not the mandate to govern. Even if one conflates the two, that was the mandate granted several generations ago; what mandate has the current generation given to the CCP to govern? Let me put it another way. If war is the only medium through which...

@rugering Thanks for this, I will comment when I've had a chance to watch the series (may take some time). Out of curiosity, when Kevin Rudd says that "the Chinese people chose the CPC as the ruling party of China," do you know when or how this choice was made, or is he conflating the CCP's...

Thanks for your reply, @XiaoYaoZi , it was illuminating. I just wanted to respond to the point you made here, and perhaps you can help me understand the Chinese system better: The specific issue here is that the CCP is literally above the law in China. That is why anti-corruption is a...

I suppose there are two schools of thought on this, and agreement isn't possible if we each belong to the two separate schools. One school holds that certain morals are absolute (e.g. suppression of the citizenry is essentially evil), and the other posits that morals are relative (e.g. in...

Certainly, any extreme will disprove the rule. One cannot involve in a democracy an organization that is opposed to the polity itself. Even the US fought a Civil War to protect the unity of the state. But extreme situations often require extreme solutions (e.g. the NSA issue you referenced...

That is how Japan implemented democracy even as the LDP ruled as a single party for decades, and as you adroitly observe, the regional politicians serve as a check on the central power in Japan as well. Singapore, a democracy, has been under continuous single-party rule as well; so if the CCP...

Since we've discussed this before, I'll start by saying that I broadly agree that Western-style democracy isn't for everyone, and there's no reason to expect that China will implement such a system in the near future. However, unlike in the West and contrary to your point about the CCP's...

Yes. In case you are interested, @Shotgunner51 is an investment banker, I believe @Edison Chen is a commercial banker, and @Armstrong has some role in corporate finance, although I'm a bit vague on that.

Thank you for your kind words, and I feel the same about your military-related posts--I am here to learn, after all. Please keep up the good work!

My last post was clearly inefficient. This is how to communicate concisely: http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2015/08/24/2138162/bloodbath-charted/