Everyone here in Hong Kong -- well, everyone? that's a broad generalisation, a lot of people -- had a good chuckle when Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott 'revealed' a plot by Beijing to take control of the Panama Canal.  Essentially, Lott had 'uncovered' a conspiracy where the nogoodniks in the dark capital were colluding with their 'lackey', Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing and his Hutchison Whampoa company to seize control of the strategic waterway.

According to Lott, Beijing was hatching a plan to blackmail the United States: So, Yankee, you wanna sailee around the Hornee? No lah! Okay, here's the new deal! 

Okay, I'll accept that if one is willing to do a Tom Clancy and stretch credibility more than a little, the scenario is just about plausible. That is if one is ready to accept the fact that Hutchison Whampoa has the legal authority to block traffic -- which they don't. And, secondly, if Hutchison Whampoa could call up a few gunboats to fight off the warships that under the handover contract the United States actually has the legal right to despatch to protect its rights.

In the hugely unlikely event that Mr. Li persuaded his buddies in Beijing to lend him a few missile-frigates, I seriously doubt they would be able -- or event want to try -- to fight off the Atlantic and Pacific fleets of the United States Navy -- given that the Chinese sailors would be half a world away from their home ports with the most impossible re-supply problems imaginable. The Chinese flotilla would be doomed -- even if they did have better maps.  

So, I have to ask myself, what was all this about? And the only conclusion I can come up with is that it was just another example of the anti-China hysteria that seems to afflict Senators and Congressmen when their  own man isn't sitting in the White House. Looking tough and standing up to the Chinese might be an appealing strategy when one is in political opposition -- but changing one's tune once the mantle of power shifts -- well, that just looks like plain old hypocrisy.

This might surprise many Americans: a lot of Western media is quite legally broadcast or distributed on the 'dark' side of the Bamboo Curtain. Doubtless many Chinese have been following the 'hounding' of Taiwanese scientist Wen Ho Lee with much interest. When American counter-intelligence chiefs openly admit they do not have a shred of evidence to link the poor man with spying -- but he's going to lose his job and reputation anyway -- you can bet some of those Chinese lost just a little of their faith in the American justice system and the much envied principle of innocent until proven guilty. Western liberal values, fair play and democracy -- well, they are principles upheld by the rule of law. When law enforcement agencies are allowed to run amok -- what do you have left? 

The reason I say that many Americans may be surprised at the amount of information available to people on the mainland, is that I'll always remember such worthies as Madeleine Albright and Robin Cook pretending that Yugoslav-Serbs were cut off from the world and could only base their opinions on Belgrade-sourced news. Well, there are plenty of grainy black and white WW2 movies depicting heroic Yugoslav resistance fighters hiding in snow-bound caves listening to the BBC on their short wave radios. Modern Yugoslavia and China have come a long way since then. Really. To a casual observer of Chinese cityscapes, what might at first appear to be oversized woks left outside to dry in the sun are actually satellite receivers. I kid you not!  

As the only 'gweilo' sitting in a well off the tourist trail Guangzhou bar-restaurant drinking Heineken, watching MTV and trying to listen to the music over mobile-phone yakkering yuppies, one gets to thinking: what do these people have that the average mining community in Appalachia doesn't? Well, money for one; jobs for another; inside toilets with flushing water, and the opportunity to improve their standard of living -- if they are willing to work for it. But can they vote in free elections for a multi-party legislature that will impose taxes on them to contribute to the costs of a judiciary that singles out an individual for special treatment simply because of his ethnic background?

No? Okay, so the folks in Guangzhou can't do that. 

I admit to a simplification -- and I am not trying to paint a misleading picture. There is terrible poverty in China -- just as there is in any large country. There is  miscarriage of justice, there is a lack of political freedom, they are way too enthusiastic about imposing and carrying out the death penalty... and so on. I could go on, and I am sure many American Politics Journal readers could compile a long list. Do it, and send it to me. I will answer every email received. Even the impolite ones.  

But, bearing in mind that APJ isn't just read in the United States, before you send me your lists, take a long and hard look at it. Delete the items -- crimes if you will -- unless you can honestly say you have never seen or heard of these crimes being committed in your own country or in one of your country's closest allies.  

If human rights abuse is at the top of your list -- cross it off now. Think about American friends and allies... we can go alphabetically, but remember I have lived in Asia for a long time. First country that springs to mind is Democratic Kampuchea -- y'know, the Khmer Rouge, Washington bankrolled those guys big time after Vietnam invaded in 1979.  Or perhaps we should let bygones be bygones and just consider the past couple of years and  come up with the names of countries currently in the news that use U.S. made military hardware and enjoy the benefits of military training through bilateral agreements Washington? Turkey, Indonesia....

One hates to be a cynic, but you can bet that some U.S. administration flunky has whispered into the ear of his Turkish counterpart that Washington's support for World Bank loans for earthquake reconstruction depends on continued use of Turkish airbases for strikes against Iraq. 

I guess the way we look at others is all a matter of perspective and subject to the human failing of being too quick to judge others without taking a seriously critical look at ourselves. I overheard a conversation the other day where the first chap was lambasting China over its failure to send anything more useful than 'condolences' for the tragic loss of life in the Turkish earthquake. The second guy thought about it for a second, and asked; What did Turkey send China last year when thousands were drowning or being made homeless in Yangtze River floods? 

Good question. Well, I thought it was.