China reflects the future
Although I am not an oracle, I have seen the future and there is much to be anxious about.
I recently returned from a 12-day visit to the city states of Hong Kong, Kowloon and Shenzhen in China, with a brief stopover in Dubai, and have been humbled by what the future looks like. Millions living in high-rise apartments that are unimaginable in Cape Town. Electric buses, trams, cars and all modes of transport that seem an impossible dream in South Africa.
I travelled under the ocean, through mountains in tunnels and above the seas, on sky-bridges kilometres long. Clean and efficient cities where millions work and live in absolute safety.
Had I been told this story of such incredible material progress in such a short space of time by another, I would not have believed it until I witnessed the marvel of China myself.
Sadly, with China’s progress comes concern. Whenever one nation interacts with another of lesser measurable material and military advancement, the weaker nation is subdued.
Ironically, China will not need an army to subdue Africa. Our subjugation will be at the hands of technology and scientific advancement.
Europe is already on its financial knees and Italy, like Greece, will collapse within the next year or so. Donald Trump of “America first” has retreated from a trade war with China, as he knew that America would lose. China is the dominant global manufacturer and the world needs Chinese goods more than China needs to sell them to us.
Why then, if the future is so obviously the “China century”, am I writing this letter?
Remember when the earliest Jews broke their covenant and practised injustice and oppression? God gave the Romans – and eventually the Persians – dominance over the holy land, and allowed the suffering of the Jewish people for centuries.
Recall how God gave British colonialism dominance over the Arab lands, as the Arabs were consumed by petty differences and sectarianism. Did God allow the destruction of the Holy Roman empire? Let us as white, black and brown South Africans heed the warning and reconcile our selfish enmity.
CLLR YAGYAH ADAMS Cape Muslim Congress