Delegates applaud as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for the opening session of China's National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 22, 2020. [Source]
I've been reading Ron Paul's website to get updates on COVID-19. Paul is a medical doctor. He is also a Libertarian.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica. He...
served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1976–77, 1979–85, 1997–2013) and who unsuccessfully ran as the 1988 Libertarian presidential candidate. He later sought the Republican nomination for president in 2008 and 2012.Here is Paul's political position on defense on his Wikipedia entry:
[...]
He retired from the House in January 2013, at the age of 77.
Paul has advocated for a noninterventionist foreign policy. He advocates withdrawal from the United Nations, and from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, for reasons of maintaining strong national sovereignty.And here is Paul's latest statement on US-China relations, under the article Empire is the Root of US-China Hostilities [Source: Ron Paul's official website]:
He voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists in response to the September 11 attacks, but suggested war alternatives such as authorizing the president to grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal targeting specific terrorists. An opponent of the Iraq War and potential war with Iran, he has also criticized neoconservatism and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, arguing that both inadvertently cause terrorist reprisals against Americans, such as the 9/11 attacks. Paul has stated that "Israel is our close friend" and that it is not the place of the United States to "dictate how Israel runs her affairs".
Meanwhile, China was doing things completely differently. A couple of decades ago, the Chinese communist regime began loosening its economic restrictions on the economic activity of the Chinese people. Consequently, there was tremendous amount of wealth accruing in society and also growing standards of living. That, in turn, increased tax revenues for the Chinese government.This is extraordinary, coming from a "libertarian":
Thus, while the US government was making friends around the world through force of arms and hostility, the Chinese government and Chinese citizens were making friends around the world through investments, grants, and loans. This included countries in Latin America, where the US Empire has left a dark legacy of military intervention.
Moreover, war weakens a nation from within. As the US Empire was now engaged in a policy of perpetual war, it knew that China, although still weighed down with a large amount of socialism, was gaining strength.
That’s when US officials knew that they had a problem on their hands — an empire problem. That’s when they, and their supporters in the mainstream press, began referring to China as a “rival,” an “opponent,” an “adversary,” a “competitor,” aand even an “enemy.”
At that point, the objective became to strike at China before it grew any stronger and threatened the worldwide dominion and hegemony of the US Empire.
That’s what President Trump’s trade war was all about — to bring China down a peg, even if it hurt American producers and consumers in the process. That’s also what US sanctions on China and Chinese enterprises, such as Huawei are all about. It’s what the criminal prosecution of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is all about. It’s why Trump is considering banning the Chinese social network TikTok from the United States.
Of course, the Covid-19 crisis did US officials a big favor by adding significantly to China’s economic woes.
Libertarianism (from Latin: libertas, meaning "freedom") is a political philosophy and movement that upholds liberty as a core principle. Libertarians seek to maximize political freedom and autonomy, emphasizing individualism, freedom of choice and voluntary association. [Source]In criticizing American politics, Paul chose a closed, communist country, whose leaders have not denounced their Communist principles.
The "liberty" he is talking about is "tax freedom." Here's an excerpt from the article Empire is the Root of US-China Hostilities:
A couple of decades ago, the Chinese communist regime began loosening its economic restrictions on the economic activity of the Chinese people. Consequently, there was tremendous amount of wealth accruing in society and also growing standards of living. That, in turn, increased tax revenues for the Chinese government.Who exactly is benefiting from these "increased tax revenues?" The rural communities?
Forget all the other activities, including holding hostage Canadian citizens, as a retaliation against Canada for arresting Chinese spy, Huawei's Meng Wanzhou.
Paul comes from a stance of hating America enough that he is willing to sell out to the Chinese. Paul hypocritically writes about American "imperialism" when he neglects to inform his readers that China, for the past ten years or so, has been out on an imperialistic mission in Africa through Ethiopia, building bridges, roads, housing and commercial complexes, and other infrastructure, under China's "One Belt, One Road" global strategy, as a means to infiltrate the country, and the rest of Africa. Most of these programs are "funded" through "loans," more precisely, unpayable loans, with built-in country asset seizures, provided by the Chinese government.
Here are some hard questions:
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is nothing if not vague. Is it a blanket term for all Chinese overseas economic, social and political activities? Is it a specific set of coordinated policy that’s exclusive to Beijing-led international endeavors? What projects are officially Belt and Road? Where do the corridors actually go? What countries are truly participating? Nearly seven years into the initiative, we are still asking these questions as Beijing attempts to wrangle back its message from private firms and enterprising governments that have unscrupulously been using the Belt and Road brand for their own gains, dragging its reputation through the proverbial mud and putting the future of the initiative in jeopardy.If China cannot even assure the vast majority of its population the semblance of a good life, free from toil and broken backs, what business has it "doing business" in Africa?
[Source: China is Losing Support for its Belt and Road Initiative]
Had Paul and his ilk more love for their own country, for America, then covert giants like China would have not found a foothold in the African continent. Instead, America could have found strong allies in Africa.
Still, in an optimistic note, with all the global issues hovering around China, and all the failed, incomplete, and unpayable BRI project initiated through (very) high interest loans, astute African leaders are looking elsewhere for their alliances.
Paul left medicine to become a politician. Had he not, he would have been an invaluable member of the anti-COVID voice. Instead, he touts the COVID-strategy of China where most likely the COVID "virus" was originally manufactured. And where the majority of Chinese, COVID or no COVID, remain in poverty.
An elderly man takes a small break from pushing his cart filled with collected recyclable goods that he will sell by the weight to collect some money, during the opening ceremony of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing on May 21, 2020.
China's biggest political event of the year, the National People's Congress (NPC), opens on May 22 after months of delay over coronavirus fears, with President Xi Jinping determined to project strength and control over the outbreak despite international criticism and a wounded economy.
(Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP)