The Atlantic reprints a fascinating interview by James Fallows with Gao Xiqing, the man who oversees $200 billion of China’s $2 trillion in U.S. dollar holdings (Gao went to Duke Law School and speaks fluent English):
This generation of Americans is so used to your supremacy. Your being treated nicely by everyone. It hurts to think, Okay, now we have to be on equal footing to other people. “On equal footing” would necessarily mean that sometimes you have to stoop to appear to be humble to other people.
And you can’t think as a soldier. You put yourself at the enemy end of everyone. I grew up during the Cultural Revolution, when people really treated other people like enemies. I grew up in an environment where our friends, our relatives, people I called Uncle or Auntie, could turn around and put a nasty face to me as a small child....
But over the years, I believe I learned to be humble. To treat other people nicely. I learned that, from a social point of view, no matter how lowly statured a person you are talking to, as a person, they are the same human being as a person, they are the same human being as you are. You have to respect them. You have to apologize if you inadvertently hurt them. And often you have to go out of your way to be nice to them, because they will not like you simply because of the difference in social structure.
Americans are not sensitive in that regard. I mean, as a whole. The simple truth today is that your economy is built on the global economy. And it’s built on the support, the gratuitous support, of a lot of countries. So why don’t you come over and … I won’t say kowtow [with a laugh], but at least, be nice to the countries that lend you money.
Talk to the Chinese! Talk to the Middle Easterners! And pull your troops back! Take the troops back, demobilize many of the troops, so that you can save some money rather than spending $2 billion every day on them. And then tell your people that you need to save, and come out with a long-term, sustainable financial policy....
I have great admiration of American people. Creative, hard-working, trusting, and freedom-loving. But you have to have someone to tell you the truth. And then, start realizing it. And if you do it, just like what you did in the Second World War, then you’ll be great again!
The interview was held shortly before the 2008 election. In another part of interview, Gao sort of indirectly endorses Obama...
We should learn not to admit our genocides, like the Chinese then? Like little 3 year old Hitler, who isn't yet aware that he committed them? At least he doesn't say religion is the answer, thank god for that. I can't speak for Americans, not that I am not one, but I do not have the rights of an American citizen...so it is impossible to see if they are humble or not. I'm just queer, perhaps I'd be better off in China. For now I have no choice but to live in Europe, while my parents' health slowly fails in the US, because my spouse of the same gender is not American...not even partially, like me.
Posted by: r | December 20, 2008 at 06:09 PM