US has no cause to be adversarial with China

As always, the US Department of Defense’s 2017 report on military and security developments involving China carries some of the all-too-familiar biased interpretations of China’s actions and intentions. Portraying Chinese moves regarding its South China Sea territories and approach to related disputes as “coercion”, for instance, it ignores Beijing’s endeavors to ease tensions, and its latest consensuses with the Philippines and Vietnam on dispute management and bilateral consultations. The accusation that China supports its modernization via “cybertheft, targeted foreign direct investment, and exploitation of the access of private Chinese nationals” to foreign technologies is also included as usual.

But that might well be all that can be said of the concerns China’s growing presence elicits. Because although the Department of Defense openly identifies China as one of the US’ “potential adversaries” — along with Russia, Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — in its “Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Request”, the report appears genuine about the nonaggressive nature of Chinese military progress.

Despite being obvious, though unspoken, worries about the logistics base the Chinese navy is building in Djibouti, and likely new ones elsewhere, it acknowledges: “A greater overseas naval logistics and basing footprint would better position the PLA to expand its participation in non-combatant evacuation operations, search-andrescue, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, and sea lines of communication security.”

No country can afford to leave its economic lifelines unprotected. In China’s case, these span from the East and South China seas through the Strait of Malacca and Indian Ocean to Africa and Europe. And to every country concerned, China’s participation in antipiracy patrols and escort missions in the Gulf of Aden are an essential public service. As the report observes, “China’s expanding international economic interests are increasing demands for the PLAN (PLA Navy) to operate in more distant maritime environments to protect Chinese citizens, investments, and critical sea lines of communication”. And as the inclusive, expansive Belt and Road Initiative proceeds, further overseas security guarantees will be required.

Onecritical,yetoft-omittedordistorted,aspectofthenarrativeofChinesemilitarydevelopmentsisaboutpurpose.Thedraftersofthereport conclude“China’sleadersremainfocusedondevelopingthecapabilities todeterordefeatadversarypowerprojectionandcounterthird-party intervention—includingbytheUnitedStates—duringacrisisorconflict.”Inotherwords,China’sleadersarepreoccupiedwithdefense.

Since, as the report concedes, China’s “military modernization program has become more focused on supporting missions beyond China’s periphery, including power projection, sea lane security, counter-piracy, peacekeeping, and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief ”, there is a question to be answered: Why is China considered a potential adversary?

Those who illegally raise funds always invest the money in highly risky businesses or even spend it on luxuries for themselves. In both cases, the money raised will be lost.

That loss is more painful for rural residents than for their urban counterparts. In some cases, rural residents handed over the money intended for buying next year’s seeds to those promising to invest it for them. When they lost their money they were helpless and hopeless.

Thus it is no exaggeration to say that illegal fundraising causes more harm in rural regions than in cities.

In order to fight the illegal fundraisers, it is necessary to know how they cheat. Some make use of family relation networks in rural regions and cheat rural residents by abusing their trust in relatives, which is harder to prevent.

Some illegal fundraisers make use of the lack of supervision over existing rural credit cooperatives to hold illegal fundraising activities. In April, Zhao Tieqiao, an official on agricultural economy at the Ministry of Agriculture, mentioned this, saying there is no specific government department supervising rural credit cooperatives.

Thus, to sum up, the illegal fundraisers make use of either the lack of financial supervision in rural regions or rural residents’ lack of caution against illegal fundraising. Therefore, the key to curbing such illegal activities lies in two aspects: First, strengthening supervision over rural credit cooperatives so that they will not be used for illegal activities; Second, increasing rural residents’ awareness of illegal fundraising.

Besides, it is also advisable to combine the fight against illegal fundraising with the ongoing efforts to alleviate poverty in rural areas, so that the residents who have become better off will not be cheated into becoming poor again.