China Misperceived

So, you think the currently accepted paradigm of China's so-called "peaceful rise" is accurate? Have you been bamboozled by the stories of the gleaming new cities in China and the desires of China for peace? If so, it isn't your fault. This is a common thread since the rise (and even during the rebellion) of the Communists in China. There are few better at manipulating American media and so-called scholars than the Chinese Communists. This work is a survey history of the history of China's manipulation of the U.S. media and academia. Some of it was deliberate manipulation, but there is also an element of anti-Americanism among those in the U.S. eagerly willing the stories coming from China. Mosher does an excellent job of showing the history of that manipulation. Those who said that China's communists believed in democracy have since been discredited. Those who said that Chinese ate well during the Cultural Revolution have been discredited. Those who believed that the Chinese Communists were headed toward a more gentle authoritarianism in the 1980s were painfully proven wrong once again in 1989. For those who blindly accept today's version of China, read these accounts of the mistakes of the past. Doing so will cause you to step back a minute and look at the reality of today's China: People's Armed Police, Christians and Falungong continually persecuted, along with Tibetan nuns and monks, propoganda-filled Chinese media, Gulag-style prisons known as laogai, escalating threats against its neighbors accompanied by a fearsome military build-up. To this day, the government still denies entry to people known to oppose the regime. This is an instructive work to the unintiated about the realities of China. This will tell you more than anything else that you will ever read that you believe the current "super-story" regarding China at your peril.

Despite its politically conservative credentials, the book takes a needed and hard look at the overly romantic view of China still held dear by many in Washington and Wall Street. More importantly, Mosher details why this view of China has persisted with a balanced and careful analysis that traces the roots of American views of China. Readers will come away knowing that criticizing the necrotic thugs who rule China doesn't constitute "anti-Chinese" racism and doesn't make them a conservative crank (I'm a democrat). For too long, critics of our China policy have been labelled ignorant and lacking the exclusive understanding of China's "uniqueness" that Holbrooke-types claim to possess. An important work that deserves a look and that has been vindicated by China's recent behavior. Of course, all that will change after WTO, I'm sure someone is saying in Washington right now...

Another excellent book by Steven Mosher. It explores the reasons for the persistent misunderstanding by Americans of China's motives and methods of operation. The bottom line is fairly simple: if an expert criticizes China, they're denied access, if an expert praises China, they're given access. Without access, how can an "expert" be expert? Thus, the only "credible" China "experts" are those whom of whom the government in Beijing approves.

Another excellent book by Steven Mosher. It explores the reasons for the persistent misunderstanding by Americans of China's motives and methods of operation. The bottom line is fairly simple: if an expert criticizes China, they're denied access, if an expert praises China, they're given access. Without access, how can an "expert" be expert? Thus, the only "credible" China "experts" are those whom of whom the government in Beijing approves. Reviewer: Chuck DeVore is a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, a California State Assemblyman, he served as a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Department of Defense from 1986 to 1988, retired from the Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel, and is the co-author of "China Attacks."