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It's a great article. And for me, terrifying, in a few ways. For one, it seems to be a great example of how nationalism can trump other ideals. And secondly,
by ilaksh 6y ago
It's a great article. And for me, terrifying, in a few ways.
For one, it seems to be a great example of how nationalism can trump other ideals. And secondly, because spycraft seems to go along with warfare.
The scariest part of this is that national and even potentially ethnic/racial competition seems to still be a (secret?) part of many worldviews. As an extension of an often unvoiced but very prevalent type of lingering Social Darwinism.
- crocodiletears 6y ago>“I don’t know what I can do for the country,” he wrote in a letter to Chen. “Being proud of the achievements by the people’s efforts in the Motherland, I am regretful for not contributing anything.” This is a virtuous sentiment, I'm not sure how it could not be. Chung never wanted to leave the mainland because he hated it or its people, politics saw to that. Chung never wanted to leave Taiwan because he hated Taiwan or its people, economics saw to that. He built a life in America, and he wanted a part in exporting the nation's knowledge and prosperity to the people he left behind who were rebuilding their homeland after nearly half a century of strife. As the article stated, he was hardly an ultranationalist. He was leery of borders and nations. He perceived that China was improving by the metrics that mattered to him, and he wanted to help it along. Bad for the US? Absolutely. Should he have been stopped? Absolutely, from my perspective.