China’s Kung-Fu Grip on America

A couple weeks ago the Bolton nomination was being debated on the Senate floor when Alaska Republican Ted Stevens interrupted to announce that everything had to stop for the sake of some Chinese businessmen who were out in the hall. And just like that, everything was stopped. It’s easy to see why Stevens would be in prime groveling mode, as his face has been buried deepest in the trough these past few years, gobbling up $393 million worth of pork for his state in 2003 alone. Senator Stevens certainly knows who makes it all possible. The larger matter at hand here though is that the role of China in our country’s future is undoubtedly growing by the year, and by voting red so heavily in 2004 we only have ourselves to thank for it.

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s bid for Unocal is the type of event that should allow the American public to connect the dots, but most likely it won’t. Considering the amount of ‘fiscal responsibility’ rhetoric we heard from Republicans during the Clinton administration, it should have mattered to most Americans that during Bush’s first term federal spending managed to get completely out of control. The Chinese government has bought a significant amount of our bonds to finance all of this, and as the debt grows, so will their influence over us.

This corporation is hardly independent. Like Petrochina, another Chinese energy corporation, it’s a state controlled organization that caters to the needs of the government first and foremost. Profits in such organizations are distributed heavily in the form of dividends that go in large to the government itself, as it’s an owner of a good percentage of shares. The conflict of interest this creates is something that can only manage to equal negative results down the road should the deal for Unocal be allowed to go through. While an American corporation’s success provides benefits to the government in the form of tax revenue, the Chinese government gets theirs two-fold.

The dynamic at play here, that the mainstream media will most likely avoid describing at all costs, is our tax dollars funnel directly to the Chinese in interest payments on the bonds, and that revenue funds the acquisition of American corporations. In simpler terms, we borrow their money and they repossess our assets. We decide to fight a war we can’t afford, President Bush decides to grant tax cuts to the rich that we can’t afford, and in spite of all this, federal spending continues on an upwards trajectory. Bush may use his veto power for the first time in his presidency on a social issue, stem cells research, and the effects of his crack leadership is the Chinafcation of our country.

Of course Bush could simply nix the deal and send China packing, but then what happens to their cooperation in dealing with North Korea? Perhaps the Chinese take a stand by selling off their dollars, causing the value of our currency to drop. They wouldn’t want to devalue our bonds too much in the process, but the reason I mention all of this is to point out that our country’s safety and prosperity does have something to do with whether or not the Chinese choose to cooperate with us. They do have cards to play here, and a hardliner stance, while surely the type of position that will get politicians votes come time for mid-term elections, isn’t necessarily the right move.

The Unocal bid is a sign of things to come unfortunately, as belt-tightening will undoubtedly come in ways that force the most needy in our society to go without, but overall a Republican led government will only manage to dig a deeper hole. Cutting the federal defect in half by 2008, a Bush promise during the campaign in 2004, has turned into 2009 already according to a Scott McClellan in a White House press conference last week. When that changes to 2010 next year we can start to panic I suppose, but this taxpayer knows quite well that these people running the country are in way over their heads. If we’re relying on the Bush administration’s ability to wheel and deal versus that of the Chinese, we might as well get it over with, appoint Paris Hilton ambassador and invest in some chopstick lessons.

2008 can’t come soon enough!