I love Mr. Wang Yi's writing and asked him for permission to publish this email. I also love the Chinese aphorisms. Mr. Yi and I have been corresponding steadily throughout this lovely Arab Spring and both of us have been following the Chinese government's reaction. The PRC has the most finely attuned antennae to civil protests in the world. At the first whiff, they Spring into action. Recently there was an article in The New York Times. Some Chinese had tried to emulate the Arab protesters by using the same Facebook/Twitter media and calling for a protest and specifying the site. More Chinese cops showed up than protesters.
"The Chinese authorities are all nerves now. I believe the situation there is to get worse before it can get better. It's a shame this country and UK are cutting the Chinese programs of Voice of American and BBC. The politicians have squandered the money and are now trying to save from by cutting those programs! Chinese have a saying: When a cart of firewood is on fire, they try to put it out with the water in my tea cup. I feel sorry after 8 years of the Bush administration; this country slid in status from the only superpower in the world to a country which begged China to buy her debts. That's the price we pay for electing a C-student to be the President. It seems history has come to another juncture where democracy has to be face to face with autocracy. We have reasons to worry, I guess."
"The Chinese authorities are all nerves now. I believe the situation there is to get worse before it can get better. It's a shame this country and UK are cutting the Chinese programs of Voice of American and BBC. The politicians have squandered the money and are now trying to save from by cutting those programs! Chinese have a saying: When a cart of firewood is on fire, they try to put it out with the water in my tea cup. I feel sorry after 8 years of the Bush administration; this country slid in status from the only superpower in the world to a country which begged China to buy her debts. That's the price we pay for electing a C-student to be the President. It seems history has come to another juncture where democracy has to be face to face with autocracy. We have reasons to worry, I guess."
