Professor Toad. [Archive]

Prairie Fire

14th January 2010, 08:01

Interesting...

His article regarding how China is a "friend of Nepal", however, doesn't deliver.

He points out the problems that Nepal has faced from India and the US, all of which are valid.

With China though, the focus of his entire article, there is very little of value to take from it.

He brings up all of the list of charges against China (which he is scoffing at)...

But, what, then, of Nepal’s giant neighbor to the North? Yes, that’s right: Nepal’s northern border is with China. China is widely regarded in the United States and indeed among U.S. leftists as a capitalist and even an imperialist power. It is said to be involved in the exploitation of numerous African nations, the Philippines, and wherever else. It is considered rapacious, dangerous, an enemy every bit as serious as the United States… Or perhaps a valued partner of the United States in subjugating smaller nations.

...But he never gets around to refuting, or even addressing, any of them.

This is his one brief paragraph that is supposed to silence all naysayers among the left:

But Chinese behavior is entirely lacking from the list of complaints of the Nepalese Maoists. To the contrary, it seems that China is one of only a very few nations that was willing to deal on normal terms with the Maoists led government of Nepal. Prachanda visited China during his time in office, and characterized the visit as very important.

Immediately after that, he reverts back to praise of the UCPN (M), as though with the above paragraph he had completely laid out his case to reinforce his bold opening title: " A lesson from Nepal: China is a friend".

He triumphantly crowes as though he has shattered any notions that China may be a capitalist, imperialist country, and then goes on to re-assert his main premise:

There is no reason to question their judgment: If you are a nation in Asia on the verge of revolution, the most valuable friend you will find is the People’s Republic of China.

Okay,

If the best that he can muster is the fallacious argument that the Nepalese Maoists "Know what they are doing", this still does not refute any of the charges against China, nor reinforce his thesis that China is a "Friend" to revolutionary countries and peoples the world over.

Now, I'm not contesting that China has good relations with neighbouring Nepal and the Nepalese Maoists... As it does with the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

This hardly proves the authors assertion that China is a "friend", but is a manifestation and a confirmation that China is itself an imperialist power in it's own right, with it's own agenda and contending with other imperialist powers on the globe.

China often finds itself at odds with the United States, and occasionally with India as well. For this reason it seems that it finds buffer states and potential allies where it can.

In the case of the DPRK, China would not be pleased to share a border with a US proxie, which is exactly what the ROK is. For this reason, they will do what they can to keep the DPRK from becoming the other half of American Korea.

In the case of Nepal, I think it is the same principle. China allready shares more border with India than it would like to, so sharing a border with an Indian puppet state would be the same thing as extending the border with India.

Nepal, despite having no major resources, has high political significance in inter-imperialist tensions between the US and India on the one hand, and China on the other.

For these reasons, China can possibly be included as an (Vacillating) ally in most struggles (and has been by countries and organizations) for the same reason that it could be counted on during the Mao era: It is it's own empire distinct from the US and others, and it has it's own agenda.

For this reason it will trade with the DPRK and Cuba when the US won't, it will act in a friendly way towards Nepalese forces that are willing to cooperate with them (as Prof. Toad says, the Nepalese monarchy were puppets of India, so all Monarchist forces in Nepal are therefore not in line with the Agenda of Beijing,), etc, etc.

Of course, as Lenin said, it is a revolutionary tactic to make the fullest use and take advantage of contradictions between imperialist powers (or imperialist factions within a country), so for this reason I don't see any reason to condemn the UCPN(M) for their workings with China.

That said, any illusions of "revolutionary solidarity" with China entertained by Prof.Toad (and others), need to be tossed aside immediately. The Peoples Republic of China is an imperialist power, playing the same chess game that it has played since it came into being, setting up dominos and occasionally knocking them down.

North Vietnam, DPRK, Kampuchea, Albania,Zaire, Cuba... Nepal would do well to learn from the long, and often tragic,history of Chinese counter-meddling and manouvering on the globe. It is fine to milk them for all that they are worth, but never have illusions.

But, yeah. Thanks for pointing it out, Comrade, it looks very interesting.