Peering into his crystal ball, he sketched this possible scenario for China:
I beg to differ on that last part about the consequence of China growing old before it can get rich. Think of America on the cusp of its sustained century-plus of growth and innovation. It was a vacuum cleaner, sucking in immigrants from all over the world:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
My take is that China at some point will be so self-confident that it will -- like a vacuum cleaner too -- suck in the young, talented and eager from the vast Chinese diaspora. But unlike early-industrializing America, latter-day China will not be choosing the poor, huddled masses, but fresh-off-the-boat youth to fill up its ranks. And they will come, lured by the opportunities. As for the unfortunate "target" countries, there might be a hollowing out of talented young Chinese!
America has its Statue of Liberty. How ironic then that, in a future China, a Goddess of Democracy-like statue might beckon new immigrants:
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In this future China, will it become more democratic? Or more Confucian? ST ran this interesting commentary (May 23) by Hong Kong University scholar Joseph Chan:
There was this interesting concluding segment -- regarding Singapore:
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I'll wrap up with some other stuff spotted in ST (May 23):
Infrantry? At least the SAF wasn't planning to acquire more "frighting vehicles"!
Irascible? Of the dozen people I polled, half did not know what it meant. All of the four journalists agreed it should not have been used in a headline. There are better alternatives. Take your pick...
But, happily, I found something I could praise. I like this headline below:
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