China-Cuba Friendship Poses Growing Challenge To The West

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DR. SAWRAJ SINGH

INTERNATIONALAFFAIRS / EDITORIAL

For some time, it is becoming increasinglyclear that China is advancing fasttowards becoming the most powerfulcountry in the world.The recent happenings all over the world,particularly China’s growing friendshipwith Cuba, are showing that there is afundamental change in the Chinese policies.China has started asserting itspowerand influence whether it is in the economic,political or ideological fields.China is asserting itself in Asia, Europe,Africa, and Latin America. China hastremendously improved its relations withRussia and it is in process of improvingits relations with Japan. China’s relationswith Cuba are becoming closer andwarmer. Cuba has started looking up toChina.There have been very importantrecent happenings in which China hasplayed avery significant role. These are:_____ Chinese delegation visits Cuba_____ Chinese delegation visitsZimbabwe_____ China supports Sudanese government_____ China building highways inVietnam_____ Conclusion of Boao AsiaforumA Chinese delegation has just visitedCuba. President Fidel Castro receivedthe delegation and held a meeting withthe delegation. This was the first officialbusiness conducted by Fidel Castro afterhis illness.He said that both state-to-state and family-to-family relations between Cuba andChina are becoming warmer and warmer,and Cuba is very proud of the greatachievements of China. The tradebetween the two countries is growing andChina has become Cuba’s second largesttrading partner. Fidel Castro, in my opinion,is one of the three leaders who hadmaximum impact on the history of thetwentieth century. The other two leadersare Chairman Mao Tse-Tung of Chinaand Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam. Castro’spraise for China will further enhanceChina’s standing among the leftists inSouth America and the western hemisphere.The western countries, particularlyEngland and America, are very muchinvolved in the efforts to get rid ofRobert Mugabe, the President ofZimbabwe.The western media has tried to projecthim in the most negative way. The westerncountries and media are openly supportingthe opposition there. RobertMugabe led the armed struggleto free Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia,from the racist colonialists. Welcomingthe Chinese delegation, Mugabe praisedChina for its strong support during theanticolonial struggle as well as after independence.The Chinese delegationassured Mugabe of continuous support.China has supported the Sudanesegovernment. The western countries haveoffered sanctions on Sudan and seem tobe supporting rebels in Darfur. The westalso appears to be supporting Chad in itsconflict with Sudan. The western countriesare pressing the United Nations forapplying sanctions on Sudan. China hasused its influenceon the Sudanese government and made itagree to accept United Nations troops.China has also called upon the UnitedNations not to apply any sanctions.China’s relations with Vietnam areimproving. China is building four highways,linking Hanoi with fourVietnamese cities and to the border citiesin China. The trade between the twocountries is rapidly growing. After thecompletion of the highways, the tradewill grow still more rapidly.The Boao Asia forum has just endedin China. Among the keynote speakerswere Philippines President GloriaMacapagal-Arroyo, Prime MinisterShaukat Aziz of Pakistan, and Bill Gatesof Microsoft. The speakers talked aboutthe great and exemplary progress madeby China.They felt that Asia and the world shouldlearn from the Chinese example. TheChinese model of development is differentthan the western model. Whereas thewestern approach is linear, focused onlyon economic growth, the Chinese conceptis of sustained development. Thisincludes aspects of social harmony andenvironmental concern besides economicdevelopment.China is offering a more balanced andmultilateral approach to its internal problemsas well as for global problems. Inthe last two centuries, under westerndomination, the western absolutist thinkingprevailed. Now, the time has comefor trying eastern relativist thinking.Relativism is closer to truth than absolutism.Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is theChairman of the Washington State Networkfor Human Rights and Chairman of theCentral Washington Coalition for Social Justice.He can be reached [email protected].