Kind of. I guess.

True, in earlier posts I said that I try to stay away from intractable issues relating to China where I can add little or nothing new to the debate (e.g., China - Taiwan, peasants rioting in the countryside, etc.). Then I read The View From Taiwan blog about China scholar/journalist James Mann’s testimony before a U.S. government panel on U.S. China relations, and I thought what he had to say was something new.

His basic argument: the US should stop assuming that China will move forward politically and become more open due to its economic progress, and instead plan for the contingency that China’s growth will NOT move it toward democracy. Its current autocratic state may very well be with the world community for a long time.

He must love the Talking Heads as much as I do, as his congressional testimony sounds like that killer line (”Same As It Ever Was …”) from one of their many hits, Once in a Lifetime.