Thirty-two years ago, Chinese state security forces murdered thousands of innocent protesters in Tiananmen Square. They have been relentlessly tracking the survivors and suppressing the story. Protests commemorating the massacre are forbidden, under penalty of prison for anyone attending one.
I believe in the virtues of minding one's own business, but somebody has to speak about this for those who can't. There are very decent people in China living under their murderous police state. We have lots of problems of our own, but at least let us remember that they exist and some of what they have suffered.
UPDATE: Foreign Affairs publishes an article arguing that we should prepare ourselves for the likelihood that Beijing may soon invade Taiwan.
UPDATE: A good move from the Biden administration, which barred investments by US persons in 59 Chinese firms linked to their military and surveillance state. Unfortunately this comes alongside a very bad move, the adoption of some Chinese-made drones by the US military for use.
6 comments:
n Aunt and Uncle were missionaries in china back then. They got out of country the day before the massacre after being in country for several years.
They just finally retired after their last mission trip to Mozambique for the third or fourth time.
May God reward such service.
somebody has to speak about this for those who can't. ...at least let us remember that they exist and some of what they have suffered.
My remembrance is on my blog, now, through tomorrow, and I plan on doing it annually.
Eric Hines
There are now people writing articles claiming that we have to collaborate closely with China because they are the source of critical materials for wind/solar/batteries, and that if we *don't* so collaborate, the world will burn with global warming.
Expect to hear a lot more of this, as an additional arrow in the don't-upset-China-by-criticizing-them quiver.
My new post on 'Green' energy materials and implications:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/66042.html
Fortunately I read that Japan just discovered a lot of rare earths just off their coast:
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2018/04/13/discovery-of-rareearth-minerals-off-japan-coast-secures-780-years-of-industrial-demand-study/
We also have a lot of rare earths within our borders, to the tune of our being 7th in the world in total rare earth reserves. I don't have a breakout on which of the rare earths we have "plenty" of and which we're deficient in.
Regarding rare earth reserves, I'm minded of the limited oil reserves the Malthusians insisted, in the last century, that we'd be running out of about now, being well past "peak oil." Today, we have more known reserves than we had then. Is it the same with rare earths? In fact, though, rare earths (with a couple of exceptions) are everywhere (like Chicken Man), but they're very broadly dispersed. What's rare about them is deposits concentrated enough (so far) for economic extraction.
The problem is the cost of the extraction and then of processing. Both of those are strongly influenced (though far from exclusively so) by the various regulations surrounding mining and processing.
Eric Hines
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