In this American Public Media’s Marketplace report (which I heard on NPR yesterday), reporter Rob Schmitz casts some doubts about China’s investments in Mongolia (podcast segment starts at 10:40 mark), especially with respect to recently discovered coal deposits. Of course, this is the same Rob Schmitz who exposed the Mike Daisey lies about working conditions at Foxconn. Schmitz is one of the best Western reporters covering China right now. I love listening to Marketplace and appreciate his work. However, I must point out the hypocrisy in this little segment. Try listen to the report a second time around by replacing China with the United States and Mongolia with Canada. Now, think whether a U.S. media would make such a report about America. It might be unfair to outright call Schmitz and the Marketplace program as defaming China. Nevertheless, if you think about the American audience who are barraged with constant Collective Defamation of China as melektaus thoroughly argued, you will understand what kind of impact a seemingly benign report means in the bigger picture.
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Zack says
mongolia is considered a key strategic area for potential enemies of China-thinking of the US, Russia and India here-a place to not only plunder resources from a territory that was once part of Qing China’s, but also as a place to potentially place bases and anti ballistic missile batteries with a view towards neutralising China’s nuclear deterrant as well as hosting a launching pad for a future invasion/regime change of China proper.
Mongolia’s policy at the moment is an attempt at balancing russia, china, India and the US off each other, but considering the fair amount of sinophobia amongst the 1 million populace in mongolia at the moment, despite the generosity of the Chinese towards mongolians, and consider also how the mongolian military has been partaking in the US; ISAF mission in Afghanistan, i believe it’s a matter of time before the mongolians in ulaan bator do something stupid at the behest of their wannabe ally the US. Was it only a few years ago when the indians wanted to set up an air force base in mongolia?
In any case, mongolia can’t exist without China, the sooner they accept it and accomodate it, the happier they’ll be. Needless to say, there’re more mongolians in mongolia itself, for the very reason that better opportunities await mongolians wanting to go to China proper.
Zack says
i should also add, what about American investment in Australia? American investment outweight Chinese investment in Australia, and yet it is China that our media consistently focuses on. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Australia has been compromised by intelligence services of the US. What happened when Senator Arbib was outed as being a source (if not a spy) for the US? was he dragged off to traitor’s prison? did ASIO interrogate him? nup, as far as Canberra was concerned, he was no different than the deferential traitors who’ve bent Australia over and allowed the penetration of US spies into the establishment.