It is ridiculous to compare invaluable U.S. contribution to China with insignificant Japan
You did not read my post carefully. You picked only one thing.
I said many things. I mentioned the transfer of American technology to China (e.g. selling supercomputers to China during Bill Clinton's administration). Also, I mentioned Chinese students studying at American universities.
If I become more explicit than it appears I'm giving too much credit to the United States. If I say too little, you do not understand.
Very well, I will say more and take the risk.
The United States has been and continues to be important to China, because the U.S. has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for China's basic sciences. Our Confucian culture of obedience limits our horizon. Most of us that have studied in the United States have had our minds opened to the endless possibilities.
A perfect example is Zhu Guangya, who was critical to China's atomic and hydrogen bomb programs. If you still don't understand what I'm saying, I will speak more clearly. The United States was vital in providing Mr. Zhu Guangya with a mastery of nuclear physics when he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. You cannot find a comparable contribution from Japan.
Have I made myself clear enough?
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Zhu Guangya: Nuclear pioneer and national hero CCTV News - CNTV English
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Zhu Guangya: Nuclear pioneer and national hero
02-06-2012 08:17 BJT
Among the people CCTV has chosen to receive "Hidden Heroes" award, there is a pioneering nuclear physicist named as Zhu Guangya.
Zhu Guangya made important contributions to breakthroughs in nuclear energy research and helped the country develop its nuclear arsenal.
China exploded its first atom bomb in 1964, with a hydrogen bomb following shortly in 1967 - setting a record for such a rapid advance. The event shocked the world, but also touched the heart of Zhu Guangya, who returning to China after completing his PHD in nuclear physics from the University of Michigan, devoted himself to researching nuclear energy.
Zhu Mingyuan, Zhu Guangya’s son, said, "I wrote in my diary that we should pay tribute to scientists. My father didn’t agree. He said workers, technicians and members of People’s Liberation Army are all contributors."
In 1999, he was awarded a prestigious medal in recognition of his contribution to China’s "Two Bombs, One Satellite" project which refers to the atomic bombs and a man-made satellite. (article continues)"
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Guangya
"Zhu Guangya (simplified Chinese: 朱光亚; traditional Chinese: 朱光亞; pinyin: Zhū Guāngyà; December 25, 1924 – February 26, 2011) was a renowned Chinese nuclear physicist, and an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He served as the vice chairman of 8th and 9th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).[1]
Zhu attended National Central University (Nanjing University) in 1941 and graduated from department of physics of National Southwestern Associated University in 1945, and obtained a doctorate degree in physics at University of Michigan in the United States (1950).
He returned to China in spring of 1950. After 1957, he was involved in nuclear reactor research. Together with Deng Jiaxian and others, Zhu led the development of China's atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb program."
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Sino-American relationship is extremely complicated
There are elements of competition and cooperation between China and the United States. However, the United States has not treated China as an enemy.
What does it look like when the U.S. thinks you're an enemy?
1. U.S. created NATO to blunt the Soviet threat. There has been no attempt to create an Asian NATO.
2. U.S. gives billions in military aid to Israel. The U.S. gives peanuts ($30 million to the Philippines and $0 to Vietnam) in military aid to Asian countries.
3. U.S. blocked Soviet goods from entering the United States via the Jackson-Vanik law in 1974.
The United States could have prevented the rise of China if it really wanted to.
Firstly, the U.S. could have forced China to spend an ungodly sum of money on defense. If the U.S. had provided $5 billion each in annual military aid for the last thirty years to South Korea, Japan, and other neighboring countries then China would have been forced to bleed itself economically on military spending.
Secondly, the United States could easily have blocked all Chinese goods from entering the United States for the last thirty years. All of the jobs would have been displaced to other under-developed countries.
As you can see, the United States could have (but did not) prevent China's rise. Without the constant stream of profits and upgrade in technology from the United States, China would not be where it is today.
Finally, it is incorrect to claim Japanese consumers can replace American consumers. Many of the imports and exports in Sino-Japanese trade have American customers as the end destination.
Japanese live on four barren islands with nothing to exchange of value. Americans live on a continent as large as China with bountiful resources to trade. On paper, Japanese consumers are equal to American consumers. In reality, Japanese cannot replicate American wealth from bountiful natural resources and technological innovations (e.g. think Silicon Valley).
It will take many decades before Chinese consumers can replace American consumers in importance to the Chinese economy. However, it is a mistake to believe Japanese consumers can ever replace the American market.
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While it is inconvenient for China to have the U.S. whispering into the ears of the Philippines and Vietnam to stir up trouble, this is peanuts.
Action speaks louder than words. Where is the U.S. military operating? The U.S. focus is really on the Middle East. Those dumb Islamic extremists destroyed the World Trade Center buildings and forced the U.S. to respond.
The U.S. talks about China, but drops bombs on Middle Eastern countries. I think Chinese can withstand the nagging from the United States. Periodic nagging is a far cry from a military confrontation. It is a mistake to exaggerate minor American nagging into an "enemy."
The United States is the world's current superpower. How many F-22s and B-2 stealth aircraft does anyone else have? The U.S. grumbles about growing Chinese military power, but there is no serious effort to contain China.
If stable Sino-American relations continue for another twenty years, China will become an equal economic and military superpower. Can you withstand twenty more years of nagging? It seems a small price to pay.
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Not enough for China to work hard. You need American buyers for the last thirty years.
This is the weakest resistance ever mustered by one existing superpower to prevent the rise of another superpower with a different culture.
1. The U.S. sold modern steel plants to China for peanuts. The sale of a bankrupt modern Pittsburgh steel plant for $6 million to China was reported during the 1980s by Dan Rather on CBS News. I saw it on the newscast. Did you?
China dismantled every single nut and bolt for reassembly in China.
2. Prior to 1997, Chinese Long March launches were unreliable. U.S. companies Hughes Electronics and Loral wrote a report that identified the problem areas, specifically the faulty insulation material, and Chinese Long March launches have been almost perfect for the last 15 years (e.g. 1.5 failures in 15 years).
3. The U.S. loaned two CFM56/GE F108 engines to China in 1982 during the Cold War. The CFM56 formed the core technology for the WS-10A. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States asked for the return of the two CFM56/GE F108 engines. China returned one and claimed the other one was destroyed in a warehouse fire.
4. The U.S. sold supercomputers to China. The U.S. sold fiber optics to China.
5. There is endless joint venture technology transfers between the United States and China. This process continues today. All of the avionics and engines for the ARJ-21 and C-919 are supplied by American subcontractors.
6. Major American companies have R&D centers in China. Microsoft, Applied Materials, major pharmaceutical companies, etc. come to mind.
7. The path of transfer of technology. United States --> Taiwan --> China. Taiwan had its start in the semiconductor business in 1964 by licensing a transistor design from General Instruments.
Taiwan built a massive semiconductor industry on American technology and equipment. Taiwan worked hard to incrementally improve some of the computer technology (e.g. notebook computers). However, the bulk of the underlying technology and customers were all American.
TSMC grew into a monster and built plants in China. Ex-TSMC personnel formed the management and technical core for China's premier semiconductor company SMIC.
8. When China asked Toyota to build a manufacturing plant in China during the 1990s, Toyota refused. In contrast, GM jumped at the opportunity in 1997. GM and SAIC formed a joint venture with 50-50 shared ownership.
9. Let me say it again. Who has been buying Chinese manufactured goods for the last thirty years? The U.S. economy has been the largest for 100 years and it is still twice the size of the nominal Chinese economy today. For most of the last thirty years, the U.S. economy was 10 times larger than the Chinese economy (e.g. all of the 1980s and 1990s).
Who bought all of those Chinese goods and gave China all of those trade surpluses to build the mighty Chinese economy? It wasn't tiny Japan. It was the mighty United States.
Sure, Chinese people worked hard. However, if the U.S. had closed its market to China then it wouldn't matter if Chinese people worked hard. There would have been no place to sell endless billions of Chinese manufactured goods. You need a market to absorb your exports.
10. If the United States truly viewed China as an enemy, it would have dropped thermonuclear bombs on Red China during the Korean War (1950-1953). The U.S. had a monopoly on the hydrogen bomb in 1952.
The U.S. was vastly superior in military technology (e.g. including the missile technology to deliver thermonuclear warheads) for the last 70 years. Today, the U.S. is still unrivaled in military technology (e.g. in-service F-22s, B-2s, supercarrier battle groups, each Ohio submarine carries 288 thermonuclear warheads, etc.).
If the U.S. truly viewed China as an enemy, the U.S. could have smashed China at any time during the last 70 years. The U.S. had the power to strangle China before China's rise. However, it didn't. The U.S. talks and threatens, but it never directly hurt China. We were lucky and benefited from American tolerance and magnanimity.
All of these events comprise a more accurate picture of the complex Sino-American relations. The United States is not China's enemy. If it were, Chinese would all be dead a long time ago.
It's an uncomfortable truth, but the U.S. hyperpower is unbelievably strong. Strategic Air Command commander LeMay wanted to drop nuclear bombs on all major Soviet cities. The president of the United States rejected the pre-emptive strikes.
Similarly, I'm sure there were some hawks in the Pentagon that wanted to conduct a pre-emptive strike on a stronger China. It is the moderation of the U.S. president that most Chinese aren't all dead. The United States did not have to wait until China built an impregnable 5,000km Underground Great Wall.
My final point is polls show the majority of Americans do not view China as an enemy. Why don't we return the favor and not view Americans as the enemy? It's a difficult and complicated relationship, but America is hardly China's enemy.
American government officials like to mention New York City as the largest concentration of overseas Chinese outside Asia in the world. There are 682,265 ethnic Chinese living in New York City.
In conclusion, China would not be where it is today without American acquiescence.
