China Optimists – An Endangered Species

That was a take from one of the serialized interviews with global thought leaders by SCMP’s OPEN QUESTIONS; and in this particular case, with Kishore Mahbubani (KM) on “his thoughts on what the West gets wrong about China, Asean’s inconsistency and why the United States should prepare for No. 2 status in the world.”

I have quoted the retired Singapore diplomat before in my blogs. He was about my age, had grown up from a poor background – as he had chronicled in his recent memoir, Living the Asian Century: An Undiplomatic Memoir – which was not dissimilar to mine and for that matter to that of a very good friend in Kuala Lumpur who had also written in like manner in his memoir. In the quote in question, Mahbubani was responding to the interviewer’s question that he had been consistently bullish on China’s rise and return as a strong civilization, which implied that he was amongst the minority of “global thought leaders” who held such a position and hence belonged to “an endangered species.” Indeed, most commentators in the Western media had routinely relegated China as much as they could and had promulgated or manufactured stories that China was ruled by an oppressive regime with extremely poor human rights records. KM is indeed amongst the few who would speak up for China objectively, in the category of people such as Jeffrey Sachs or the British film director Malcolm Clarke. Taken in a broad sense, it is unthinkable that China optimists can fall into the endangered species category – the majority of the 1.4 billion in the country would surely be China optimists. But then, let us not forget that there are 8.2 human beings on the planet in 2024, and we account for only about 17% of the world population.

But public opinion is a very strange thing; and as KM had pointed out in Has China Won? Published in 2020, China had committed its fair share of strategic mistakes “to alienate several major constituencies in America, without thinking through the consequences of doing so.” Time and again, foreign journalists had routinely assumed that China was a backward state with extremely poor human rights records and oppressive governments, without recognizing that China had achieved in the past 30 years more than it had achieved in the last 3000 years in a number of fields, notably in technology and economics. Then, of course, United States had developed and funded infrastructure to spread misinformation on China, rather efficiently and successfully.

In an interview on YouTube, KM had remarked that the United States was a deeply troubled society, adding that only a country in such a state would even consider electing a character such as Trump as the next President. But in another interview, when pressed whom he thought would be returned as the next POTUS, he trotted out the name Trump without much thought.

Only very recently, Bob Woodward alleged that Trump had diverted Covid test kits to Russia when they were in short supply in the United States, something that Trump had strenuously denied, but which was positively confirmed by Putin as facts. Whom could one trust?  In the end, one needs to take a view, and I have chosen to be a professional optimist as far as China’s future is concerned. To assume another position would simply make no sense for someone in my present situation.

Which brings me indeed to my present position. Many friends are aware that I had chosen to have my left knee replaced notwithstanding that I had not been taking pain killers, that I could walk unassisted and that I could go about my daily routines without hassles. I was assured that the technology for such operations is now very matured and that I could expect the new joint to last for 25 years, when I would be over 100 years old, if I live that long. Thank God I had a rather successful operation and had been making good progress. The doctor removed all bandages on my leg last Thursday, implying that I had since been able to take a bath freely and normally. The doctor sent me off with the advice that I must take the necessary exercises regularly and act cautiously. I expect the operation would feature in the sequel of my memoir, and I have been giving thoughts on the subject, beginning with the title.