Front-page weirdness

Barely enough time today for a quick flick-through of the South China Morning Post, but a couple of things jump out.

SCMP-BeijingHas

First is this peculiar report on a paper by a hitherto unheard-of financial think-tanky-thing called OMFIF. Although you wouldn’t know it from its website, OMFIF has – according to the SCMP – just published a report drawing parallels between the founding of the International Monetary Fund over 70 years ago and global affairs today. Specifically, the Chinese expected a major role in the world’s financial system in 1944 (sending a big delegation to Bretton Woods), and they do in 2015 (hence the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, BRICS investment fund, constant Yuan-blather, etc).

A humungous shrug is in order, we might think. However, the SCMP story makes for a very bizarre read. Not once is there any mention of the obvious fact that we are talking about two different ‘Chinas’ here. It was the Republic of China of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang that attended the Bretton Woods talks and other conferences preparing for the post-war world (like the Dumbarton Oaks gathering that led to the United Nations). The People’s Republic of China replaced the ROC in the UN in 1971 and didn’t join the IMF until 1980. But the SCMP report implies a seamless SCMP-ChinasAmbitionscontinuum in which a single entity called ‘China’ has been striving all along for a suitably prominent place in the world order.

Of course, no-one pretends that the PRC existed prior to 1949. And the ROC-in-1944/PRC-in-2015 parallels may be real (dare we guess the China-as-victim theme appears somehow?) if you like that kind of thing (good source here). It’s just slightly weird that this item avoids all reference to a core relevant historical fact. With the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender approaching, it will be interesting to see how the SCMP handles the ROC’s unavoidable part in the events of the time, and of course the Communist forces’ apparently/arguably/allegedly rather modest military contribution to the anti-fascist struggle.

(What’s seriously weird is that that this obscure piece of ‘news’ gets lengthy, not to say repetitive, front-page treatment in the first place. We can only guess. To counterbalance Beijing’s latest self-mutilation – the round-up and extraction of forced confessions from lawyers?)

Among modern China’s efforts to exert or at least prove global greatness is the oddly named and unfathomable ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative. It seems to be something about how the Chinese government thinks the world needs such hardware as a Kazakhstan-Berlin-via-Africa high-speed rail link, and would like to help finance and build it, all out of the kindness of its heart, and Hong Kong’s young people will enjoy so many opportunities from this that they will be able to afford homes. Behold the Conference from Hell…

SCMP-OneBelt

Interestingly, there is no mention of who is organizing or sponsoring the thing, nor – to our great distress – any details of how to book a seat.

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8 Responses to Front-page weirdness

  1. Sir Crispin Bentley-Smythe IV says:

    What, no mention of the new holiday on Sept 3rd, to mark the 70th anniversary day of the victory of the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression?

  2. Cassowary says:

    Not to put too fine a point on it, but aren’t there several large bodies of water on the route from Kazakhstan to Berlin via Africa? Amazing things the clever buggers are doing with trains these days.

  3. gweiloeye says:

    Cassowary i’m thinking under water maglev trains on bridges with huge pylons, and the front of the train a giant blade to slice through all the ocean detritus (known everywhere else as ‘ sea life ‘). just imagine an ocean of halves of whales, dolphins etc floating around decaying but havested by some canny chinese company to make something they say will increase your manhood.

    @hkgweiloeye

  4. Nimby says:

    “I refuse to join any club forum that would have me as a member.”

    The Nimby corrilary to the JP Morgan affordability criteria.
    If there’s no charge to attend an event, then be prepared to be offered a time-share
    (in one of China’s empty cities by the look of the speakers).

  5. stinky foot says:

    This is not surprising to me except that some have finally recognised what was proposed back in 1944-48. China’s scientists were also part of developing nuclear power. You do know that the Pudong development was a KMT plan (1944-48) as well as the greater Shanghai Plan was the forerunner of the ‘one country two systems’. It is still amazing to me the historical amnesia.

  6. Nimby says:

    Stinky Foot: The original road in “One Belt, One Road” 一带一路 was named “Nathan”, but promoting it won’t win a Golden Showers Bauhinia.

    In the old days, it use to take a mentholated spirits and a match to clean up a bit of history. Now it’s anyone’s game. Apparently the Wumao are well paid to keep striking out any reference to that part of the history of Nathan Road from that favorite source of every internet troll, Wikipedia.

  7. Joe Blow says:

    @ Nimby: Denatured alcohol, also called methylated spirits or spiritus, is ethanol that has additives to make it poisonous, extremely bad tasting, foul smelling or nauseating, to discourage recreational consumption.

    In China they call it Tsingtao Beer.

  8. FOARP says:

    Beijing wasn’t even the capital of “China” in 1944. Officially it was (then Japanese-occupied) Nanjing, which was also the capital of the Japanese puppet state that also used the R.O.C. moniker. However CKS’s de facto capital was at Chongqing in 1944, and he was only restored to Nanjing after the Japanese surrender before Nanjing fell (again) to the Communists in 1949.

    Despite the fact that the R.O.C.’s de facto capital is now at Taipei, and has been there for several decades, according to the R.O.C. constitution the de jure capital is still at Nanjing.

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