https://johnmenadue.com/america-bombs-while-china-builds/?
作者：Richard Cullen 
理查德·卡伦 2024年5月1日，香港大学法学院兼职教授。他曾担任澳大利亚墨尔本莫纳什大学商业法和税务系教授。
有时侯，有人说，美国在轰炸，而中国在建设。证据是什么？统计数据在哪里？让我们来看看美国和中国在当今世界上显而易见的广泛全球足迹的起源和性质。
一百多年前，美国已成长为举世瞩目的超级大国。
三百年前，中国也占据着特别主导地位——尽管与美国相比，其财富和权力仍然更加集中在中国境内。
随着西方领导的殖民时代无情且有效地向全球各个角落推进，中国随后成为一个被严重削弱和严重征服的实体。
然而最近，中国的非凡崛起以前所未有的方式扭转了这一颓势。而美国衰败跑进入颓势。
名义GDP 数据以现价美元计算 资料来源：世界银行
起点
1700年之后，中国在全球的足迹大幅萎缩，当时中国占全球经济总量的22%以上。一个多世纪后的1820年，中国的经济规模仍然是刚刚起步的美国的23倍，但经济正在下滑。
1949年10月，中华人民共和国（中华人民共和国）在北京成立时，中国极度贫困，人口约5.4亿，GDP仅约25亿美元。
当时，非常富裕的美国人口约为1.5 亿，GDP为1.46万亿美元 — — 或者说，按原始 GDP 计算，其经济规模几乎是中国的600倍，请参见：
中国经济：历史透视与未来展望。
就在1960年，中国还比许多非洲国家还穷。
美国扩大其全球足迹
第二次世界大战后，美国的实力在世界范围内以惊人的速度增长。它的军事实力本来就很强大，但在开支超过接下来10个国家的总和的推动下，它的军事实力不断扩大。
（看这个链接：争取优先考虑和平、经济安全和共同繁荣的美国联邦预算。
随着美国经济在 2010 年占全球 GDP 的 33% 以上，其全球经济主导地位也保持同步。美国大力推销的软实力确保了其在全球意识形态、媒体、娱乐和文化方面的巨大影响力。
1991年柏林墙倒塌、苏联解体后，美国：首先强调冷战胜利；接下来，制定了一项秘密计划，以确保没有其他国家能够再次挑战美国的霸权（参见：
美国的战略计划要求确保没有竞争对手发展。
美国的全球足迹是巨大的。而且它在军事上是很强调的。美国围捕了一批顺从的盟友，并带领他们卷入许多残酷的战争，例如在朝鲜、越南、巴尔干、伊拉克、利比亚和阿富汗。
如今，美国及其合作者主要通过代理人，在乌克兰和不可原谅的加沙卷入了精心策划的可怕战争——这是自卢旺达以来最严重的种族灭绝战争。美国几乎总是与全球各地的各种敌人交战，而这些敌人都为美国领导的军事工业媒体综合体（MIMC）带来了丰厚的持续利润。
为什么美国总是在某个地方打仗？
中国不断变化的全球足迹
1949年之后的三十年里，中国的大部分时间都在苦苦挣扎。首先是继承的、大规模的贫困和落后造成的可怕影响。 此外，北京还必须应对严重的外部威胁，特别是朝鲜战争以及美国在 20 世纪 50 年代与国民党联合支持台湾重新点燃内战的倾向。 接下来是严重破坏性的国内灾难，其中最严重的是毛泽东大跃进（1958年至1962年）造成的经济破坏和饥荒，以及文化大革命（1968年至1978年）造成的严重破坏。
但明智的头脑明白，美国在19世纪从一个以奴隶制为主的农业经济体，在大约 100 年内实现了非凡的崛起，成为主导世界的工业强国，这为中国提供了重要的教训。 特别是，事实证明，如果以单一的焦点和决心，采用以现代形式创建并在欧洲启蒙运动期间提升的科学方法并将其应用于现代工业化经济的发展，可能会产生巨大的变革。
自 1978 年以来，特别是在邓小平（如图）的指导下，中国实际上是从头开始重建自己，以人类历史上前所未有的规模使用这一基本公式 — 特别是在这样一个时期
时间跨度短。 因此，我们现在发现，美国的全球足迹不再只有一个占主导地位，而是有两个主要的全球足迹：美国和中国，这两个足迹相互重叠。
然而，与美国最不同的是，自1979年（与越南发生短暂战争的一年）以来，中国在重建过程中选择了几乎完全避免战争。 这在很大程度上与2000多年的帝国历史相一致，无论是在罗马帝国灭亡之前还是之后，中国的回避战争都比欧洲更加明显。参见：中国从来都不是一个帝国主义国家。 中国不轰炸，而是建设、建设、建设。 结果是惊人的，全世界都有目共睹。
1949年，中国和印度的国民生产总值数据大致相当。 根据日经亚洲最近的一份报告，如今，中国的经济规模约为印度的五倍 请参阅：
如果印度经济能够保持在正轨上，它就能超越中国
中国现在是世界第二大经济体（基于原始 GDP 数据）或世界第一大经济体（基于购买力平价数据）（参见：解读中国 GDP
此外，根据世界银行的数据，过去40年来，超过8亿中国人摆脱了赤贫。 中国的全球足迹在世界历史上是无与伦比的。
还有非凡的“一带一路”倡议（BRI）。 自2013年以来，中国一直在世界各地通过这一巨大的建设性项目建设最广泛意义上的基础设施（包括直接建设和协助建设）。 它无疑为中国带来了经济和核心软实力利益，但它也为整个南半球国家带来了经济提升优势：
“一带一路”倡议如何促进中国利益？
在重要方面，自19世纪及之前的华人侨民的巨大足迹预示着“一带一路”的成功：
海外华人如何为“一带一路”铺平道路
概要
如今，中国约占全球GDP的18%，这一比例仍在上升，而美国约占全球 GDP 的25%，低于2010年的33%以上。
未来十年中国GDP怎样才能增长4%至5%？
美国经济在全球的影响力仍然非常重要。但如今，美国选择超越世界的可怕方面却给它蒙上阴影。任何公开看待我们所有人目前面临的地缘政治紧张局势的人都会遇到一些核心例子。
美国炸弹和獾
美国现在正以巨大成本为其与俄罗斯战斗到底的决心进行再融资 乌克兰见：
在欧洲最近一场可怕的战争中，战斗到最后一个乌克兰人。
更可恶的是，美国正在大规模武装以色列，以扩大其在加沙的报复性、阴谋性的种族灭绝，让美国的腋下沾满了巴勒斯坦人的鲜血，同时仍在向世界宣讲人权的重要性。
道德受损的美国仍在挥舞正义的手指
美国不满足于所有这些无耻的（营利的）战争贩子，还正在组织新的、大规模的资金注入台湾军队，以表明如果需要的话，美国愿意与中国进行热战（无知的顺从的盟友会采取行动） 笔记）。
这在一定程度上是为了确保台湾成为美国控制的、毗邻中国的巨大军事桥头堡（不用担心对台湾造成的后果），最重要的是，为了帮助扭转现代中国的崛起。
在所有这些情况下，从七国集团和五眼联盟中大量抽调而来的听话领航鱼群体以各种方式做出反应，包括：为放血欢呼（在乌克兰）；转移他们的目光；点头同意； 偶尔还抓着他们的珍珠。可以预见的是，全球西方的主要媒体喉舌将所有这些行为视为神圣的保护民主和人权的努力参见：
新闻迷必备的媒体术语指南
出于这些原因，世界其他地区，除了西方世界之外 — — 尤其是南方国家 — — 今天比以往任何时候都更加认为美国的全球足迹看起来极其虚伪、越来越恶毒且难以预测。 今天，即使是仍然反对统一的大多数台湾人（根据民意调查）也必须看到美国可能将台湾拖入一场战争的严重风险，而美国将无所畏惧地致力于战斗到最后一个台湾人。
谈到这一点，有人最近指出，当华盛顿的精英们在北京握手确认他们支持一个中国政策时，他们常常感觉他们说话时另一只手拿着枪瞄准。 这是当前中美一系列讨论中显而易见的模式。
中国建设
中国不断增长的全球影响力也不断引发这些高度政治化的例子之外的担忧
由美国主导的环球西方及其媒体推动。但这些担忧与中国如何塑造最终的贸易和融资框架有关，这对中国有利 — — 而对“一带一路”沿线国家不利。
但“一带一路”总体积极影响值得高度重视。 南方国家现在根据经验知道，西方国家无法提供任何类似的援助。他们还记得2021年拜登与七国集团的“重建更美好世界”(B3W) 倡议。现在，西方国家基本上已经忘记了该倡议当时在全球范围内的大力推广。迄今为止，B3W 已被证明是，正如德克萨斯州所说：所有人都没有牛。
与此同时，近150个国家（193 个联合国成员国中）现已成为“一带一路”成员国。中国对“一带一路”成员国的投资最高时每年超过1000亿美元，目前仍接近每年700亿美元见：
一带一路倡议 (BRI) – 统计数据与事实
拜登·邦格尔斯
最后，随着下届总统选举的临近，乔·拜登亲自强调了对美国今天的全球足迹以及他自己的心态的担忧。 他最近声称（与官方军事证据相反），他的叔叔可能在第二次世界大战期间被新几内亚的食人者吃掉。 这让世界各地，尤其是南半球国家感到震惊，在这些国家，食人族的刻板印象被证明是一种破坏友谊的举动。
巴布亚新几内亚总理詹姆斯·马拉佩觉得他别无选择，只能告诉美国全球足迹的总司令：巴布亚新几内亚人民没有吃掉你的叔叔拜登先生看：
领导人告诉拜登，巴布亚新几内亚人民没有吃你的叔叔
结论
中国有着极其悠久、连续、有记载的历史。今天的北京深刻地理解了历史的重要性。 北京不断研究、借鉴。 通过如此密切关注这一相关的、长期的历史，我们学到的一个主要教训是，为什么保持稳健、消息灵通的冲动控制至关重要。 另一个原因是，贸易几乎每一次都战胜了战争。
美国似乎在研究其整个、较短但仍然非常独特的历史上投入的精力要少得多，以便能够从自己的、往往是血腥的、主要的国家经历中吸取全面的教训（而不仅仅是如何保持第一）。
华盛顿似乎也不太重视北京的冲动控制。 坦率地说，这会严重阻碍你找到解决方案，再次。
America bombs while China builds
https://johnmenadue.com/america-bombs-while-china-builds/?
By Richard Cullen May 1, 2024, Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong. He was previously a Professor in the Department of Business Law and Taxation at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
It is sometimes said that America bombs while China builds. What's the evidence, and where are the statistics?
Let's examine the origin and nature of the broad global footprints of America and China which are evident across the world today.
The US grew to become a world-striding superpower over 100 years ago.
Three hundred years ago, China was also particularly dominant – though its wealth and power remained far more locally concentrated, within China, compared to the US.
China subsequently became a vastly weakened and significantly subjugated entity as the Western-led colonial era advanced relentlessly and effectively to all corners of the globe.
Nominal GDP figures are in current US$ Source: The World Bank
More recently, however, the extraordinary rise of China has reversed this decline in an unprecedented manner.
STARTING POINTS
China's global foot print shrunk massively after the year 1700, when it comprised over 22% of the total global economy. More than a century later, in 1820, China still retained an economy that was 23 times larger than that of the fledgling US but the slide was underway.
When the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established in Beijing, in October 1949, deeply impoverished China, with a population of around 540 million, had an emaciated GDP of around US$ 2.5 billion.
At that time, the very rich US had a population of around 150 million and a GDP of US$1.46 trillion – or an economy that was almost 600 times larger than that of the PRC, measured in raw GDP terms see:
China’s Economy: Historical Perspective and Future Outlook.
As recently as 1960, China was poorer than many African nations.
AMERICA AMPLIFIES ITS GLOBAL FOOTPRINT
America power grew, worldwide, at an exceptional rate after World War II. Its military strength, already huge, simply kept expanding driven by spending exceeding that of the next 10 countries combined.
(Look at this link: Fighting for a U.S. federal budget that prioritises peace, economic security and shared prosperity.
Its global economic dominance kept pace as the US economy advanced to comprise over 33% of Global GDP by 2010. America’s intensely marketed soft-power ensured tremendous worldwide ideological, media, entertainment and cultural influence.
After the Berlin Wall came down and the USSR was dissolved in 1991, the US: first emphasised its victory in the Cold War; and, next, produced a secret plan to ensure that no other nation could ever challenge American hegemony again (see:
US strategy plan calls for insuring no rivals develop.
America's global footprint was huge. And it was militarily emphatic. The US rounded-up its posse of obedient allies and led them into many brutal wars in, for example, Korea, Vietnam, the Balkans, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.
Today the US and its collaborators are engaged, mainly by proxy, in calculated horrific wars in Ukraine and, unforgivably, in Gaza – the worst genocidal war since Rwanda. The US is almost always at war with varied-enemies right around the globe, which, in each case, delivers rich continuous profits to the US-led, Military-Industrial-Media-Complex (MIMC) See:
Why is the United States always fighting a war somewhere?
CHINA’S EVOLVING GLOBAL FOOTPRINT
China struggled desperately for most of three decades after 1949. First there was the dire impact of inherited, massive poverty and backwardness. Plus, Beijing had to address severe external threats evident particularly in the Korean War and the American tilt towards supporting a re-igniting of the Civil War from Taiwan jointly with the Kuomintang, in the 1950s. Next came gravely damaging home-created catastrophes, worst of all being the economic wreckage and famine arising from Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward (1958 – 1962) followed by intense destructiveness unleashed by the Cultural Revolution (1968 – 1978).
But wise heads understood that America’s extraordinary rise from a being a significantly slave-based, agricultural economy during the 19th century into an industrial, world dominating powerhouse within around 100 years carried primary lessons for China. In particular, the proof was there that taking the scientific method created in its modern form and elevated during the European Enlightenment and applying it to the development of a modern industrialised economy could be exceptionally transformative on a huge scale, if done with singular focus and determination.
Since 1978, guided especially by Deng Xiaoping (pictured), China has rebuilt itself virtually from the ground up, using this essential formula on a scale never before seen in human history – especially over such a short time span. Thus, we now find that there is no longer just one dominant American global footprint – but two primary global footprints, American and Chinese, which overlay each other.
However, most unlike the US, China has chosen to avoid warfare almost completely since 1979 (the year of a brief war with Vietnam) as it rebuilds itself. This is largely consistent with over 2000 years of Imperial history, where war-avoidance by China was notably more apparent than in Europe, both before and after the fall of the Roman Empire See: China was never an imperialist state At the most fundamental level, China doesn’t bomb – it builds and builds and builds. And the results, which are astonishing, are there for all the world to see.
In 1949, China and India each had national GDP figures that were about equal. Today, China’s economy is around five times larger than that of India according a recent Nikkei Asia report See:
India's economy can overtake China's if it can stay on track
China now has the second largest economy (based on raw GDP figures) or the largest economy in the world (based on Purchasing Power Parity figures) (see: Unpacking China's GDP
Moreover, more than 800 million Chinese have been lifted out of abject poverty over the last 40 years, according to the World Bank. This aspect of Chinese global footprint is simply unmatched in world history.
Then there is the extraordinary Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Since 2013, China has been building infrastructure in the widest sense (both directly and by facilitation) around the world, pursuant to this huge, constructive project. It has certainly provided economic and core soft-power benefits for China, – but it has also delivered economy-lifting advantages across the Global South See:
How Is the Belt and Road Initiative Advancing China's Interests?
In important ways, the success of the BRI was foreshadowed by the remarkable, very large footprint of the Chinese diaspora dating back to the 19th century and before See:
How the Chinese diaspora paved the way for BRI
A SYNOPSIS
China today accounts for around 18% of Global GDP, a share which is still rising and the US accounts for around 25% of Global GDP, – down from over 33% in 2010 See:
What Will It Take for China's GDP to Grow at 4–5 Percent Over the Next Decade?
This US economic global footprint is still immensely significant. But is, today, overshadowed by horrific aspects of how America chooses to bestride the world. Some central examples confront anyone looking openly at the geopolitical tensions presently facing us all.
America Bombs and Badgers
The US is now refinancing, at huge cost, its determination to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian See:
Fighting to the last Ukrainian in Europe’s latest terrible war.
Even more obscenely, America is massively arming Israel to amplify its vengeful, scheming genocide in Gaza, leaving the US covered to the armpits in Palestinian blood while it still lectures the world on the importance of human rights See:
Morally damaged America still wagging its righteous finger
Not satisfied with all this shameless (profit-generating) war-mongering, the US is also organising fresh, very large financial injections into Taiwan’s military to signal US willingness to engage in a hot war with China, if needs be (witless obedient allies take note).
This is partly to secure Taiwan as a vast, permanent US-controlled military bridgehead adjacent to China (never-mind the consequences for Taiwan) and, above all, to help reverse the rise of modern China.
In all these cases, the obedient posse of pilot fish heavily drawn from the G7 and the Five Eyes respond in a variety of ways including: cheering on the blood-letting (in Ukraine); averting their gaze; nodding agreement; and occasionally clutching their pearls. Predictably, the primary media mouthpieces across the Global West market all of this behaviour as sanctified striving to protect democracy and human rights See:
An essential news junkie's guide to media terminology
For these reasons, most of the Rest of the World, outside of the Global West – and especially in the Global South – today, more than ever, perceive a menacing American global footprint that looks incandescently hypocritical, increasingly malevolent and dangerously unpredictable. Even the majority in Taiwan who remain opposed to reunification (according to opinion polls) must, today, see the acute risk that America could drag Taiwan into a war where the US fearlessly commits itself to fighting to the last Taiwanese.
Speaking of which, someone recently noted how, when Washington elites confirm with a handshake that they support, for example, the One China policy, in Beijing, it regularly feels like they are aiming a gun with the other hand as they talk. This is a pattern evident in a range of current Sino-American discussions.
China Builds
China’s growing global footprint also prompts concerns outside of those highly politicised examples constantly promoted by US-led, Global West and its media outlets. But these are concerns related, for example, to how China may shape ultimate trade and financing frameworks to China’s advantage – and to the disadvantage of BRI client-nations.
However, the overall positive impact of the BRI is deeply valued. And the Global South now knows, from experience, that the Global West can offer no remotely comparable assistance. They remember the Biden-G7, Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative from 2021. Now largely forgotten within the West it was heavily marketed, globally, at the time. The B3W has thus far proved to be, as they say in Texas: All hat no cattle.
Meanwhile, almost 150 countries (out of 193 UN member states) are now BRI members. China’s BRI investment in member states peaked at over US$100 billion per year and it still amounts to almost US$70 billion per year See:
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – statistics & facts
Biden Bungles
Finally, Joe Biden personally amplified concerns about what the American global footprint portends today – and about his own state of mind, as the next Presidential Election approaches. He recently claimed (contrary to official military evidence) that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in New Guinea during World War II. This set heads shaking around the world and especially in the Global South, where cannibal-stereotyping is a proved friendship-termination move.
Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea felt he had no choice but to tell the Commander-in-Chief of America’s global footprint that: PNG people did not eat your uncle Mr Biden See:
PNG people didn’t eat your uncle, leader tells Biden
CONCLUSION
China has a remarkably long, continuous, recorded history. Beijing, today, understands how history matters deeply. Beijing studies it and draws on it continuously. One primary lesson learned from paying such close attention this relevant, extended history, is why maintaining robust, well-informed impulse control is of paramount importance. Another is that trade beats war, almost every time, with everyone.
America appears to apply far less effort to studying its entire, shorter but still highly distinctive history to enable it to draw the full range of lessons (not just how to stay Number One) from its own, often bloodied, primary national experiences.
Washington also seems to have scant regard for the sort of impulse control embedded in Beijing. Bluntly put, it gets seriously in the way of bombing your way to a solution. Yet again.
Republished from FridayEveryday, April 29, 2024
