Bully

I READ this statement attributed to the late Chinese leader Deng Siao Ping: “If one day China should change her color and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her as social imperialism, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it.”

There was a time he was attacked and accused of being a capitalist who had fallen out of grace. But in 1973, he was back with the help and sponsorship of Zhou En Lai. By 1978, he was in full control and introduced economic reforms that made China what it was until his death.

Deng must have sensed and saw something from upcoming leaders that made him issue such statement. And if the world today sees China as a bully, Deng would have been proven right.

Deng is remembered for this saying: “Whether a cat is white or black makes no difference. As long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat.”

We cannot say Germans are bad just because Hitler was German or Cambodians are evil because Pol Pot was Cambodian. Deng’s premonition is manifesting by the way with what China’s leadership is doing in the South China Sea.

I was criticized for “ignorance” of China’s history. I also read history but I don’t think everything you read is true. I simply cannot agree that anybody from a distant place can just intrude into another’s backyard without notice and claim it as his/hers.

If the economy of China is bubbling and showing signs of bursting, and her stocks falling, maybe it’s karma working against the leadership of China and not on its people. There is no other word for showing force against tiny nations but “bully.”
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It’s been a while since the last time I saw Cepalco employees picketing or intending to stage a strike. I was even joking at the Dole for a long silence at the warfront.

It is difficult to measure a decent pay. Is it one that will answer all the needs of the employees? Or is it one that would also secure their future?

Investments need a just return. But when the company becomes so big and rich and the workers remain in a hand-to-mouth state, it wouldn’t sit well with the workforce. Thus, demands for better economic benefits ensue.

Cepalco has reached the level of monopoly like Moresco. People in the city have no other choice. People in the province are in the same fix. The two are making a lot of money that we do not know. But I am not saying their services are not good. It’s just that if they are making a lot of money, they should also think of the people responsible for it to happen.