Fredish Smörgåsbord

As you can see from this video, John and Doris fall into the half-glass-full camp of China watchers, emphasizing that those looking at China’s development must recognize how much change has taken place in just 30 years. Western democracy has developed for more than 200 years with lots of bumps on the way - the same is now happening in China.

China is in the middle of an emancipation process, they said, but the goal is not to become exactly like the west. The new (digital) generation of Chinese wants to join the world, but on their own terms. In fact, China has become a model for other developing nations.

It would be a good analogy to compare China and Japan before and during the "bubble economy" era as well.

If anyone wants to have an in-depth look about China's "democracy" changes, Taiwan and Hong Kong's past shouldn't be overlooked; and their current economy growth can learn lessons from Japan and Korea in the '80s and '90s. Making comparison with only the West in the past 200 years will miss many important issues and scenarios happening in China.

After all, China and the West are on different tracks, different vehicles and may head for different destinations.

The Russian Sukhoi SU-27 has a top speed of Mach 1.8 (more than 1,300 mph) and a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than 1:1. In other words, it can accelerate while climbing straight up. It was designed to fight the best the United States had to offer, and it can be yours for the cost of a mediocre used business jet.

The former Soviet Su-27 is now price tagged for sale. Since it's so similar to the J-11 used by China's PLA Air Force, maybe the Taiwanese government should go for the two and ask for a 20% discount.

Well, we might be using J-11 soon. :P

前蘇聯一線戰鬥機Su-27的教練機版本現在已經買得到了，一架只要區區500萬美金。因為這款飛機跟中共空軍目前使用的「殲11」幾乎完全相同，也許台灣政府應該把目前美國人手上這兩架都買下來，看能不能打個八折。

天曉得，也許過幾年殲11就是我們的標準配備了。XD

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

January 12, 2010

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We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns and questions. We look to the Chinese government for an explanation. The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy. I will be giving an address next week on the centrality of internet freedom in the 21st century, and we will have further comment on this matter as the facts become clear.

Is it the ultimatum Hillary Clinton giving to China regarding Google's "we could pull the plug in China" claim?

對於Google在中國碰到的狀況，美國政府顯然站在Google這邊（相對於通常在商務糾紛方面盡量保持中立的態度而言），接下來就看下星期中國政府會說些什麼了。

As a consensus emerges in Taiwan on establishing closer relations with China, the thaw is calling into question the United States' deeply ambiguous policy, which is supposed to serve both Taiwan's interests (by allowing it to retain its autonomy) and the United States' own (by guarding against an expansionist China). Washington now faces a stark choice: continue pursuing a militarized realist approach -- using Taiwan to balance the power of a rising China -- or follow an alternative liberal logic that seeks to promote long-term peace through closer economic, social, and political ties between Taiwan and China.

This is in fact a manifest of US's attitude to remain as a global superpower while keeping tension with another "expansionist" nation. The thing is that Taiwan is only a counterweight in the pendulum game, and our leader and his lieutenants haven't truly realized that; at least they don't know how to play the survival game in a smarter way.

Foreign Affairs.com的這篇文章，已經很露骨的說出了美國在最近台灣親中趨勢之中的兩難問題：在繼續保持世界強權地位之餘，要利用台灣作為籌碼，繼續對抗積極擴張勢力的中國、還是在台灣傾中的過程中獲取利益。

然而，我們的領導者似乎不清楚目前台灣在美國這個「鐘擺」政策中的微妙地位，或者至少他不知道如何在這個縫隙之中以更聰明的方式生存、甚至以遊走兩大強權遊戲規則的方式來獲利。

各國都有徵兵海報，沒什麼稀奇，不過會看門道的人就可以從裡頭看到很多東西。舉個簡單的例子，裡頭的武器（尤其值得注意的是單兵武器）都是新的：新型的、剛貼過開箱文的。另外，不同的文化和建軍風格也會有不同的展現方式。最簡單的道理：能刊出來的設計，都是大頭們看過點頭的。

原文刊出的一系列中國徵兵海報，雖然構圖、色彩、攝影都稍微比較現代化了，但基本上仍然不脫蘇聯式大艦巨砲、人海戰術的格局。

不過這張海報就有趣了。一票看起來都是女性的飛行員，後面一排看起來應該是「殲8」的戰鬥機，中間一位跳起來做出好像日本卡通片中的萌動作。我相信這個畫面拍了很多次才成功抓到那個瞬間，不過一來沒什麼意義、二來實在是太超現實了一點。

Every country has its variations of recruitment poster for armed forces, no big deal. But if you're into military stuff, you might be able to read between the "lines". For instance, the weapons (especially individual gears) are mostly brand new in terms of model and cleanliness.

The design and appealing angle also demonstrate the country's cultural and attitude toward the military force. Simply put, the posters must have been approved by the high-rank stars.

The image, color and photography of the Chinese posters in the original article are relatively modern, however they are still showing strong influence from the traditional Soviet style of big guns, goose steps and "it's an honor to repay our motherland".

The photo above is the most interesting one to me: a group of seemingly female pilots in front of a line of fighter jets (look like J-8), but the one in the middle makes a Japanese anime-style hop to show her energy and cuteness. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and that's quite surreal.

China recently announced its GDP grew by more than 7.1% in the first half of this year, putting the country on course to displace Japan as the world’s second-largest economy by year’s end. But it’s not time to break out the maotai just yet. Peasants and migrant workers, who compose more than 65% of China’s 1.3 billion people, aren’t benefiting much from this growth.

Much of it is hoarded by the central government. Last year, Beijing collected taxation and other levies of more than six trillion yuan ($878 billion), an eye-popping four trillion yuan more than five years ago. Since the turn of this century, funds flowing into the Beijing treasury have increased by around 22% a year, more than double the average 10% GDP growth for the past two decades.