Rania Khalek interviews Daniel Dumbrill on Xinjiang, Hong Kong, poverty alleviation and the New Cold War

This excellent interview appeared on BreakThrough News on 30 August 2021. Rania and Daniel cover some crucial topics related to the propaganda war against China.

Note that Daniel Dumbrill is among the speakers at our webinar on 9 October – The Propaganda War Against China – along with Chen Weihua, Li Jingjing, Ben Norton, Danny Haiphong, Jenny Clegg, Michael Wong, Radhika Desai and Kenny Coyle.


Fighting corruption remains central to good governance

We are republishing this useful article by Keith Lamb, which first appeared on CGTN on 30 August 2021, about the continuing fight against corruption in China.


Although there has been less in the news about China’s anti-corruption struggle, it is in full swing. The trial of Dong Hong is but one example of this. On August 26, Dong, former deputy head with the central disciplinary inspection team, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes worth $70.98 million during 1999-2020.

Since Chinese President Xi Jinping came to office, there has been a greater focus on fighting corruption than before. In his latest collection of speeches published in “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China III,” Xi mentions “corruption” 85 times. He rightly states that “the people resent corruption most; and corruption is the greatest threat our Party faces … a Marxist ruling party, our Party must always hold itself to the highest standards.”

Continue reading Fighting corruption remains central to good governance

Chinese and Cuban media report on Xi Jinping phone call with Miguel Diaz-Canel

On August 30, 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. The two sides reaffirmed their strong friendship and support for each other’s path of socialist development. China-Cuba bilateral ties were described has having “become a model for cooperation between developing countries.” We reproduce below two reports of the conversation, one from CGTN and the other from Prensa Latina.


President Xi Jinping reaffirms support for Cuba no matter how the situation changes

CGTN, 30 August 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed China’s support of Cuba no matter how the situation changes during a phone conversation with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Monday.

In the phone call, Xi hailed the remarkable achievements Cuba made through relentless struggle under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).

Continue reading Chinese and Cuban media report on Xi Jinping phone call with Miguel Diaz-Canel

Summary of ‘The CPC: Its Mission and Contributions’

Written by Carlos Martinez for Friends of Socialist China. The article has been translated into Dutch by our friends at ChinaSquare.


On 26 August 2021, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee released an important document, entitled ‘The CPC: Its Mission and Contributions’. The publication, consisting in its English translation of over 28,000 words, clearly represents a wide-ranging discussion within the CPC, reflecting on its contributions of the last hundred years and its goals and challenges for the future.

Continuity

The document emphasises the basic continuity at the heart of the CPC’s mission. Since its founding in July 1921, the CPC has devoted itself to the project of building socialism, establishing China’s sovereignty, creating a better life for the population, and contributing to a peaceful and prosperous future for humanity.

Although the CPC has gone through many phases – including the first united front with the Guomindang (1925-27), the establishment of the first revolutionary base areas, the Long March, leading the war against Japanese occupation, the civil war from 1946-49, the early decades of socialist construction, and the period of reform and opening up from 1978 – it has stuck resolutely to its core mission and principles. It has remained grounded in the needs and aspirations of the people, and that is one of the key reasons for its success.

Continue reading Summary of ‘The CPC: Its Mission and Contributions’

Corporate media politicize WHO investigation on Covid origins to vilify China

This valuable article by Joshua Cho provides a comprehensive and thoroughly-researched refutation of the ‘lab leak’ hypothesis, which Western governments and media continue to promote in the hope of isolating and demonizing China. It was originally published in FAIR on 25 August 2021.


FAIR (10/6/206/28/21) has previously critiqued Western news media’s credulous coverage of evidence-free “lab leak” speculations. One key factor in spreading suspicion that the coronavirus might have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is media’s early and ongoing politicization of the World Health Organization’s investigation into the pandemic’s origins. Much of this politicization weaponizes Orientalist tropes about China being especially, perhaps genetically, untrustworthy—the sort of people who would unleash Covid-19 on the world.

While no new evidence has emerged suggesting that the virus emerged from the WIV, many more Americans now believe it did. A Politico/Harvard poll in July, following an increase of uncritical Western media coverage on the lab leak theory, found that 52% of US adults now believe Covid-19 leaked from a lab, up from 29% in March 2020. This is contrary to the assessment of most scientists, who believe, based on available evidence, that a natural origin for the virus is more likely.

Continue reading Corporate media politicize WHO investigation on Covid origins to vilify China

Mick Kelly: 100 years of the Communist Party of China

This essay on the CPC’s centenary by Mick Kelly (member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization) first appeared in the book ‘A Century of the Communist Party of China, Statements from 100 Foreign Communists’, published by the Contemporary China Publishing House. It first appeared online on FightBack News.


This July 2021 marks a world historic occasion, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is an event of real significance for progressives, revolutionaries, and communists the world over, including those of us in the United States. China’s rich experience in defeating Western and Japanese imperialism, eliminating feudalism, and constructing a socialist society is of interest to all who hope for and are working for a bright future.

The Chinese people once had three immense mountains on their backs – imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. The CPC lead the Chinese people in removing these burdens. Old China, beset by the plague of foreign imperialists, warlords, and the land-owning class of parasites, was a nightmare of starvation and subjugation. It was a society unable to save itself, and helpless in the face of adversity.

Continue reading Mick Kelly: 100 years of the Communist Party of China

Press release to mark the 1000th day of incarceration of Meng Wanzhou

This press release was issued by the Cross-Canada Campaign to Free Meng Wanzhou. It was released on 26 August 2021 in order to mark the thousandth day of Meng’s unjust incarceration by the Canadian authorities, acting on the orders of the Trump administration. We congratulate the campaign for the important work it is doing.


Thursday, August 26, 2021, marks the 1000th day of unjust incarceration by the Trudeau government of Meng Wanzhou. That’s 1000 days during which Mme. Meng has been denied her freedom, has not been able to be with members of her family, has not been able to carry on the duties of her very responsible position as Chief Financial Officer of Huawei Technologies, one of the world’s leading tech companies, with 1300 employees in Canada.

Meng’s ordeal began on December 1, 2018, the date on which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kowtowed to the request of former USA President Donald Trump’s to extradite Meng. This was a colossal blunder on Trudeau part’s because it torpedoed fifty years of good relations between Canada and China, resulted in China curtailing major economic purchases in Canada (to the detriment of 1000’s of Canadian producers), and, because the Trudeau government dithered on the question of Huawei’s participation in the deployment of Canada’s 5G network, may have threatened the entire future existence of Huawei in Canada. Furthermore, Trudeau’s obsequiousness towards Trump embarrassingly called into question the very sovereignty of the Canadian state in front of the entire world, that it would sacrifice its own national interest in the service of its imperial neighbour.

Continue reading Press release to mark the 1000th day of incarceration of Meng Wanzhou

Socialism before shareholders: China reins in big tech’s unchecked power

This important article by CJ Atkins, originally published on 25 August 2021 in People’s World, discusses the reasons for the recent wave of government regulation in China.


Shareholders beware, socialism is back.

That’s the warning being sounded by stock market analysts and financial advisors to anyone parking their money in Chinese tech stocks. Behind the investor panic is a stepped-up regulatory campaign by the Communist Party of China that aims to combat inequality, lower living costs for working families, impose order on often chaotic markets, and prevent monopoly control over key sectors of China’s economy.

President Xi Jinping told the world in July that China’s leaders were determined to “safeguard social fairness and justice and resolve the imbalances and inadequacies in development” to solve what he called “the most pressing difficulties and problems that are of great concern to the people.”

Continue reading Socialism before shareholders: China reins in big tech’s unchecked power

Jude Woodward: Understanding the New Cold War

We are republishing this valuable interview of Jude Woodward about her book ‘The US vs China: Asia’s new Cold War?’ The book provides a timely, thorough and accessible path to understanding the US-China confrontation. It has only become more relevant since its publication in 2017.

The interview was conducted in 2019 by the Workers Party of Belgium and can be read in that organisation’s journal Solidaire in French and Dutch. The English translation was first published in Socialist Action on 26 August 2021.


The United States and China are engaged in a fierce trade war. Could this ultimately lead to an armed conflict between the two great powers? One thing is certain in any case: relations between China and the United States will dominate international politics for decades to come.

What drives China, and what are the US goals? China is often presented as a great emerging expansionist power that wants to break the hegemony of the United States. However, this picture is at the very least one-sided and too simple. These issues were recently the subject of a book, “The US vs China – Asia’s new Cold War?” Solidarity spoke with its author, Jude Woodward.

Where did you get the idea for this book?

Jude Woodward. As a teacher, I spent much time in China. There, I was struck by the totally different outlook on the tensions between China and the United States. So I found it useful to write this book.

You are critical of the way the Western press presents China. Why?

Jude Woodward. The Western press portrays China as an aggressive emerging power that wants to take over the world, even though there is no evidence of it. China is very clear on its objectives: by 2049, the year of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, it wants to become a “moderately developed” country, like Portugal or Greece. Today, China’s GNP per capita is about one-fifth that of the United States. The country has already been able to drastically reduce poverty, but it still remains relatively poor. And it will last a long time before that changes. This is why China is above all focused on its internal development, not on world domination.

In the introduction to your book, you explain that China and the United States have two totally different views of the world order. What makes them different?

Jude Woodward. The United States sees itself as the guardian of a stable world order, and the only one that can guarantee that stability. It is therefore crucial for the United States to remain the greatest power in the world. However, through its size and economic growth, China may eventually become as strong or even stronger than the United States. This obviously threatens American hegemony. In China’s vision, there should not be a single great power that determines what happens in the world, but a multipolar world order in which countries, powerful and less powerful, decide together. China does not accept that the United States is the only power in the world. Which is not the same as: China wants to become the only other great world power.

The United States fears the rise of China. You explain that it started under Obama, who launched the “pivot to Asia” strategy in his foreign policy.

Jude Woodward. In 2008, all Western countries were plunged into crisis, not China. In the years after the crisis, China grew much faster than Western countries. Obama realized that if he did nothing in the short term to stop China, it would be too late. One of the major initiatives that Obama has taken in this regard is the negotiation of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with Asian countries. Only China was not involved. He wanted to link China’s neighboring countries to the United States.

Trump has withdrawn from the TPP. Did he not play China’s game in this way?

Jude Woodward. Inside the United States, there was already much opposition to the TPP. Some felt that Obama was making too many concessions to partner countries. Hillary Clinton had also said that she would cancel this treaty if she was elected president. The withdrawal from the treaty was certainly not intended to help China, although it certainly took a lot of pressure off that country. Trump’s approach is one-sided: he wants to counter China, and all other countries must follow him down that road. But he doesn’t try to convince other countries, nor does he offer them any advantages. This is a big difference from Obama’s approach. The similarity between them is their desire to stop China’s advance. So this is not unique to Trump, there is a consensus across the entire American establishment about it. However, this same establishment dreads Trump’s actions. The criticism is no longer so much about his attitude towards China, but about the way he treats the allies of the United States. For example, his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement has not been appreciated at all.

Is Trump’s Approach to Stop China Successful?

Jude Woodward. A fundamental element of its policy is the introduction of tariffs on Chinese products. But ultimately these taxes fall on the backs of American consumers. If you put tariffs on washing machines made in China, of course, that raises their price. The danger for Trump is that it will lower his popularity. But he announced his decision with so much boast that he can hardly reverse it. There is considerable turnover in the White House, but the people who stay there are hardliners who continue to want these tariffs in place. And they most likely will get it.

From a trade war to a real war?

The caption of your book is “The New Cold War?” “. Why?

Jude Woodward. First of all, I would like to say that this is a cold war because there is currently no hot war (laughs). But there are also a lot of similarities to the Cold War. The United States has greatly increased its military presence around China. They are also trying to convince several neighbouring countries of China to choose sides and come into conflict with China, for example over territories south of the China Sea. They try to isolate China internationally, they impose tariffs on Chinese products, they carry out constant propaganda against China in the media by accusations of espionage, hacking, cyber warfare, all without much. evidence. Isolate China, make it a pariah state, exert military pressure, exclude the country from world trade… These are all tactics that were used during the Cold War against the Soviet Union.

After all, is the current situation not entirely comparable with that of the Cold War?

Jude Woodward. Effectively. China is much stronger today than the Soviet Union in its day. China is strongly integrated into the world trade and economy. The Soviet Union was more self-centred and traded almost exclusively within Comecon. It is much more difficult for the United States to pit countries against China today than it was in the days of the Soviet Union. For many countries, China is an important trading partner. And they won’t easily give up on that.

You explain that between the United States and China, the confrontation is already taking place on all fronts. Can this lead to a real war?

Jude Woodward. There is certainly a group within the US military that is convinced that there will be war with China. The American general who was in charge of American troops in Europe declared that war between China and the United States was inevitable in the next fifteen years. We also know that the new US defence strategy, announced early last year, no longer prioritises military spending on war on terror – the war on terrorism – but on confrontation with China. The United States is certainly thinking about a war with China and how it can win it. But whether this war will actually take place is another question. A real war would be extremely devastating, both for the United States and for China. So that’s not the most likely prospect, but you never know. The war will sometimes be colder or hotter, but the risk of a real war does exist.

China’s success story continues. Why has China become essential? What are the greatest domestic achievements?

Jude Woodward. The most important factor is of course the role of the state in the economy. It invests heavily in railways, high speed trains, housing, … These investments are, along with state enterprises, the most important factors in China’s economic success. Whenever the economy seems to be doing worse, the government steps in to stimulate it through investment. What Western countries never do. They under-invest, rely on the private sector, but if the private sector fails, nothing happens. This is not the way to stimulate growth at times when things are not doing so well. But in order to do that, you have to have state-owned enterprises. China has control over its banks, which the West does not, because it is ideologically opposed.

The United States wants China to pursue a neoliberal policy as well.

Jude Woodward. Absolutely. And in fact, it’s quite ironic. The whole theory is that you have to have a neoliberal economic policy because, it is said, state intervention does not work. We must let the invisible hand of the market do. Since the West is so convinced that a state-run economy cannot work, we are told every two years in the press that the Chinese economy is heading for a crisis. Not so much because it is, but just because, theoretically, under neoliberalism, this is how it should be.

Are Western Politics Pushing Russia Into China’s Arms?

Jude Woodward. It certainly has been. For example, the conflict in Ukraine was fueled by the intervention of the West. Western economic sanctions are pushing Russia into China’s arms. Some poke fun at Trump, but his policy towards Russia enjoys strong support within part of the establishment. Trump is trying to draw Russia to the side of the United States to have a stronger position against China. But, given the complex situation in the Middle East, Iran, and Central Asia, the majority of the establishment does not support collaboration with Russia.

What is the role of the countries located in the South China Sea, such as Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam?

Jude Woodward. Japan is the United States’ greatest ally in Asia. The United States has encouraged Japan to rearm, develop its military capabilities and put pressure on China. But even Japan does not want to directly enter into conflict with China. Trade relations with China are too important for that. Asian countries do not want war at their doorstep. They also see what it has given to the Middle East: destabilization, incredible chaos and all the problems that come with it. So it is very difficult for the United States to convince them to go to confrontation with China. China is not a threat to them either. This is not the perception of Asian countries, despite all the Western media claims about an expansionist and aggressive China. On the other hand, they don’t want to break with the United States either, so they try to position themselves somewhere in the center.

One of the criticisms of China is that it also makes deals with reactionary regimes. What do you think ?

Jude Woodward. China sticks very strictly to its principle of non-intervention. This does not mean that it supports reactionary regimes. For China, regimes cannot be changed through external military interventions. This is something that the people of the country concerned must deliver for themselves. What China is doing is giving very specific support to what it calls progressive regimes. For example, it supported Venezuela and it has good relations with Cuba.

The New Silk Road

The Chinese government wants to connect the Eurasian countries with a new big project called “Belt and Road Initiative” or the new Silk Road. The new Silk Road consists of a road, rail, maritime network … It is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever. At least 68 countries are affected, which account for around 65% of the world’s population. Jude Woodward: “It’s first and foremost an economic project, but of course there is also a political aspect to it. The new Silk Road will link Europe to China. EU countries therefore have every interest in staying out of the conflict between the United States and China. “

The English edition of The US vs China: Asia’s new Cold War? is published by Manchester University Press.

Webinar debunks ‘China lab leak’ theory

We are pleased to republish the excerpts from a Workers World livestream, which took place on 19 August 2021, devoted to debunking the so-called ‘lab leak’ anti-China conspiracy theory. The video is also embedded below.


Lee Siu Hin: I was in China in January 2020, when there was a new outbreak from unknown sources causing pneumonia in Wuhan, a city in central China. At that time, no one knew exactly what it was. China called formally on the World Health Organization to acknowledge that it was COVID-19 in February. No one had done so officially before that. It’s common knowledge and scientific fact.

However, the so-called “lab leak” theory comes from far-right, anti-China neocon warmonger politicians around the Washington D.C. Beltway, notably Senator [Tom] Cotton and the anti-China think tanks and also from the far-right, anti-China cult Epoch Times, the so-called “Falun Gong.” From Day One, they spread the “lab leak” theory. That’s how it started. This is not coming from scientists.

Continue reading Webinar debunks ‘China lab leak’ theory

CODEPINK petitions PBS: Stop censoring the truth about China

We are republishing this article from CODEPINK about their petition, with almost 4,000 signatures, demanding that PBS stop censoring the documentary ‘Voices from the Frontlines: China’s War on Poverty.’


By Madison Tang

Last week, on August 12, 2021, CODEPINK’s Medea Benjamin, Tighe Barry, Leonardo Flores, and Michelle Ellner delivered over 3,600 signatures from the public to Public Broadcasting Services’ headquarters in Arlington, VA asking them to stop censoring the truth about China.

Much to our disappointment, PBS, a PUBLIC broadcasting service, chose to call the police on these four peace activists members of the public, who were calmly and respectfully representing the opinions of the taxpayers — who fund PBS to the tune of over $26 million annually. The viewers who signed this petition are simply requesting that PBS honor its mission statement and values to “keep citizens informed on world events and cultures,” “express a diversity of perspectives,” and deliver content that is “responsive solely to the needs of the public—not to the interests of funders.”

Continue reading CODEPINK petitions PBS: Stop censoring the truth about China

Communist Party of China 100th Anniversary Celebration Webinar

On Sunday 25th July,  the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) organised a webinar celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).  We’re pleased to make available the video of that event,  featuring some excellent presentations from Wang Yingchun of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; Robert Griffiths, General Secretary of the CPB; Kenny Coyle and Iain Inglis, CPB members living in China; and China specialist and campaigner Jenny Clegg; along with some brief archive footage on the founding of the CPC.

Webinar: The Propaganda War Against China (9 October)

We’re excited to announced that our next webinar takes place on Saturday 9 October, 9am US Eastern / 2pm Britain / 9pm China.

You can register for the Zoom event on Eventbrite.


Details

On Saturday 9 October 2021 (2pm Britain, 9am US Eastern, 9pm China), Friends of Socialist China are hosting an international webinar to discuss the intensifying information warfare being waged by the US and its allies against the People’s Republic of China.

We will discuss the relationship between this propaganda onslaught and the New Cold War; the reality in Xinjiang and Hong Kong; the participation of sections of the Western left in the propaganda war; and more.

The event is co-sponsored by the Morning Star, the GrayzonePivot to Peace, the Geopolitical Economy Research Group, the International Manifesto Group, and Qiao Collective.

Speakers

  • Chen Weihua (EU bureau chief, China Daily)
  • Li Jingjing (Reporter, CGTN)
  • Ben Norton (Assistant editor, The Grayzone)
  • Jenny Clegg (Author, ‘China’s Global Strategy: Toward a Multipolar World’)
  • Daniel Dumbrill (Canadian Youtuber and political analyst based in Shenzhen)
  • Michael Wong (Vice President, Veterans For Peace, San Francisco)
  • Danny Haiphong (Co-editor, Friends of Socialist China)
  • Kenny Coyle (Editor of Praxis Press; Morning Star contributor)
  • Chair: Radhika Desai (Professor, University of Manitoba; Convenor of the International Manifesto Group)

About the organisers

Friends of Socialist China is a platform based on supporting the People’s Republic of China and promoting understanding of Chinese socialism. Its website (edited by Danny Haiphong, Keith Bennett and Carlos Martinez) aims to consolidate the best articles and videos related to China and Chinese socialism, along with original analysis.

Quote: Hua Chunying on capitalist democracy versus socialist democracy

From Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying’s Regular Press Conference on August 20, 2021

“What is democracy? Who gets to define it? How to judge whether a country is democratic? These rights should not be monopolized by the US and its few allies. Chinese democracy is people’s democracy while the US’ is money democracy; the Chinese people enjoy substantial democracy while Americans have democracy only in form; China has a whole-process democracy while the US has voting democracy that comes every four years… China’s socialist democracy puts the people front and center.”

Common prosperity and the nature of China’s modernization

We are republishing this interview with Han Wenxiu, deputy head of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs, on the nature of China’s modernization. It was originally published on the website of the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China.


Xinhua News Agency:

All countries are pursuing modernization, and the CPC has achieved its First Centenary Goal and put forward the Second Centenary Goal focusing on modernization. What are the characteristics of China’s modernization and how does China achieve modernization under the leadership of the CPC? Thank you. 

Han Wenxiu:

I will answer these questions. To achieve modernization is a persistent goal of generations of the CPC members. The goal from building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, to achieving basic modernization, and then to building a great modern socialist country in every dimension is the top-level design and strategic planning of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. The type of modernization we are pursuing is “Chinese-style modernization” which has the following important characteristics:

Continue reading Common prosperity and the nature of China’s modernization

Socialism or barbarism: contrasting approaches to Covid-19

The following comment on the contrasting approaches of capitalism and socialism to Covid-19 by Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett was originally published in abbreviated form by China Youth Daily.


Ever since the Covid-19 virus was first detected in Wuhan there have been consistent attempts to politicise the issue by certain Western powers and political forces in the West on anti-China, anti-communist and racist bases.

Decent people and the overwhelming majority of countries in the world felt sympathy and solidarity with China and with the Chinese people as they courageously battled a then unknown virus and dealt with the situation in an exemplary way that put human life first and also assumed a model attitude of international responsibility, identifying the coronavirus and sequencing its genome in record time and immediately sharing this with the entire international community, not only through the recognised international channels, but even by publishing it on the internet, thereby making it freely available to all scientists and researchers.

Continue reading Socialism or barbarism: contrasting approaches to Covid-19

Quote: Hua Chunying on the reality of US militarism

From Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying’s Regular Press Conference on August 17, 2021

“Wherever the US sets foot in, be it Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan, we see turbulence, division, broken families, deaths and other scars in the mess it has left. The US power and role is destructive rather than constructive… We hope the US could make a serious reflection on its wilful military intervention and belligerent policy, stop using military and human rights as an excuse to arbitrarily interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and undermine peace and stability in other countries and regions.”

Danny Haiphong on the China-Africa ‘debt trap’

Interviewed by Rania Khalek for the Unauthorized Disclosure podcast, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Danny Haiphong explodes the myth of Chinese ‘imperialism’ in Africa, tracing the roots of the China-Africa relationship in the early period of the People’s Republic and the shared values of anti-colonialism and Global South solidarity.


Does China’s rise really threaten the US?

We’re pleased to republish this article by Dee Knight, member of the DSA International Committee’s Anti-War Subcommittee, about the need for ordinary people in the US to resist a New Cold War that threatens the interests of humanity. It originally appeared in Covert Action magazine on 14 August 2021.


A massive blitz of Western propaganda is behind the escalating U.S. cold war against China.

President Biden and most of the U.S. Congress say China has become a serious threat that must be countered in every way and in every corner of the globe. The U.S.-led cold war against China has escalated quickly and dramatically. President Biden is trying to harness the G7 and NATO to isolate China, and Congress is fast-tracking bills to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative and punish China for alleged human rights violations.

This escalation is not new. Barack Obama launched the U.S. “pivot to Asia.” Now the seas around China bristle with U.S. aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines; missiles and super-bombers are aimed at China from Japan, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia, with tens of thousands of troops.

Continue reading Does China’s rise really threaten the US?

Capitalism on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China and the U.S

This book review of the crucial 2020 book Capitalism on a Ventilator, edited by Sara Flounders and Siu Hin Lee, first appeared on LA Progressive on 11 August 2021. It is written by Dee Knight. Reproduced with thanks.


As the Delta variant threatens to drag this country and the world back into the abyss of the pandemic, and while the danger of war between the U.S. and China intensifies, it may be good to take stock. Capitalism on a Ventilator can help: it compares the impact of COVID-19 in China and the U.S., in the words of “social justice activists discussing a global choice: cooperation vs. competition.

Capitalism on a Ventilator

Critics claim Ventilator is one-sided – heavily favoring the Chinese response to the virus over the chaotic disaster we’ve lived through in the U.S. In fact, the book re-balances the narrative, documenting major differences. Graphs and pictures tell much of the story: one graph illustrates the contrast in cases during the first 100 days of the pandemic. China’s rate stayed flat while U.S. cases went through the roof.

Another graph shows how Wall Street investments skyrocketed while virus cases exploded. Meanwhile in China, economic concerns were set aside to manage the crisis. Industrial plants abruptly switched from regular production to churn out protective gear, ambulances, ventilators, electrocardiograph monitors, respiratory humidification therapy machines and more. Responding to early infections in Wuhan, “from across China came 1,800 epidemiological teams… to do surveys of the population,” conducting demanding and dangerous door-to-door surveys. In the first month of the virus outbreak, health authorities inspected more than 10 million people in Wuhan: 99 percent of the population.

Continue reading Capitalism on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China and the U.S