| Letters: Repairing U.S.-China ties 04/08/2001 25 reasons now
There are many reasons not to buy goods made in China. Now we have 25 more reasons – 24 American service airmen and women and an airplane.
Read the labels and packages for the country of origin. Do not support a country that holds the U.S. hostage and has nuclear missiles targeted for our Western states.
JOEL SAMPSON, Dallas
We were caught!
If it weren't so serious, the flap with China would be laughable.
Let's face it, we were caught with our pants down! True, we're mad with China for interfering with our spying, but I wonder how many Americans would quietly accept the fact if China were similarly patrolling our West Coast, even it was over international waters.
The most ludicrous item to come out of this brouhaha, however, was the opinion by some of the Navy people that our pilot should have ditched the plane rather than let it fall into enemy hands. Of course, that would mean the death of two dozen young people who were merely doing what they were ordered to do. Now this isn't a Nathan Hale kind of thing. It's another case where some desk-bound yo-yo in Washington is willing to send the young Americans prematurely to their graves so the Chinese can't play with toys they probably already have.
I fought, bled and almost died in World War II, so I bow to no man when it comes to love of country. I just wish we wouldn't consider ourselves so all-knowing and all-powerful that we are bound to save a selected portion of the world ... whether they want to be saved or not.
WALLACE HARMON, Dallas
U.S. shouldn't grovel
It would be akin to groveling if we apologize to China for our standard operating procedures in international airspace. Democrats like Dianne Feinstein and Dick Gephardt lie to us easily so an apology from them doesn't mean much. But putting business before American lives is shameful.
I heard both these hollow persons groveling this week. Ms. Feinstein laments the loss of the Chinese pilot's life, but was it reported that President Bush offered assistance immediately after the incident in locating the downed pilot? How do Ms. Feinstein and Mr. Gephardt feel about the 26 Americans being held against their will? China has our 24 military personnel plus two others who have been imprisoned since February. Li Shaomin and Gao Zhan, both American citizens, are being detained on frivolous charges.
I'm outraged that the communist Chinese feel free enough to terrorize our citizens and slap us in the face at the same time. Will Ms. Feinstein, whose husband has a lot of financial investments in China, put those money interests aside and think of our national interests? Will all of us consider what these Chinese bullies are doing to these detained Americans and their families? We should stop doing business with China and avoid the groveling attitude. The communists are not our friends – period.
KATHLEEN HILL, Colleyville
The new China
William Murchison's April 4 Viewpoints column concerning the "Red" Chinese is more informative of his prejudices than the facts.
Having just returned from a two-week business trip to China and meeting a wide variety of political and business figures of the region, I am convinced that China bears little resemblance to a communist regime. In fact, it provides less in the way of benefits and protections for workers than the U.S. does. The guiding principle of its leadership is not communist ideology, but staying in power so they can continue sending their children to college in the U.S. and Britain.
This is not to minimize the threat China poses. But it is not a "Red" one. China is busily discarding the failed experiments of Mao and building a highly competitive economy. Capitalism runs deep in the blood of the Chinese people – witness the success of the overseas Chinese in many countries – and the leadership is now determined to succeed as a capitalist competitor.
The Chinese leaders are authoritarian, and this is tolerated by the Chinese people, conditioned under centuries of emperors. News and information are controlled and manipulated. As the Internet erodes the regime's control, it becomes more paranoid. The Chinese Communist Party periodically chooses a new "emperor" in a closed process and internal power struggles add an element of instability. Chinese nationalism is on the rise; the people remember stinging defeats and occupation of territory by Japan and Britain. They do not accept the embassy bombing in Belgrade as an accident. China is now determined to achieve great power status and to dominate East Asia. Against international law, it asserts sovereign control of the South China Sea. These are the challenges China poses. Let's understand them and deal with them sensitively and wisely.
Mr. Murchison refers to the McCarthy era, when the U.S. abandoned rational analysis and decision-making as Joe McCarthy fanned the flames of fear and hate. The U.S. can best confront the current crisis and manage a difficult relationship with an emerging power by having a rational understanding of the internal factors shaping Chinese policy and the true threats to U.S. interests.
Mr. Murchison attempts a great disservice by appealing to emotionalism rather than reason as he laments the passing of the "dear, dead McCarthyite days."
SCHUYLER B. MARSHALL, Dallas
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